The latest research prize has Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore teaming up in the Virgin Earth Challenge. The competition will give $25 million to "whoever can demonstrate to the judges' satisfaction a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth’s climate."
I'm becoming a big fan of R&D prizes (see earlier postings). As gizmag points out in their article The use of special prizes to fuel global innovation:
Two heads are better than one. Six billion are even better.
Putting 6 billion brains to work is a wonderful vision for the I-Cubed Economy
By the way, last summer, the British Conservative Party proposed the use of prizes to encourage innovation. That is an interesting turnaround from a traditional conservative (small "c") approach which favors the market forces over government incentives.
Leave a comment