The X PRIZE Foundation of Playa Vista, Calif. has announced that it will disburse $100 million in new prizes over the next decade, according to the Foundation Center. The contests will aim to inspire radical innovation in four key categories:
- energy and the environment
- life sciences
- the exploration of the oceans and space
- education and global development
The Foundation is known for mounting out-of-this-world competitions that aim to “create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity thereby inspiring the formation of new industries, jobs and the revitalization of markets that are currently stuck.”
Mostly famously, the organization awarded the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE to the first privately manned spacecraft. And the upcoming Progressive Automotive X PRIZE will award $10 million to the maker of the best “clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPG energy equivalent.”
The competitions the Foundation is planning for the next ten years will include prizes focused on clean aviation fuel, small-scale second-generation biofuel production, ocean research and conservation and better management of tuberculosis. Others under consideration are those targeted at producing innovation in education, clean energy, hunger and agriculture, poverty and water and sanitation.
“X Prize works to align competitions with corporate partners who share our vision to enact fundamental change for the benefit of humanity,” said Foundation’s president and vice chair Robert K. Weiss.
An intriguing example of such a corporate partnership is the upcoming “MoonBots: A Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Challenge,” a collaboration with Google Inc., LEGO Systems, National Instruments and Wired’s GeekDad. Small teams of children and adults will compete to design, program and construct robots that can undertake simulated lunar missions like those involved in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, a private race to the Moon.
Photo via X PRIZE Foundation.
