X PRIZE Foundation

The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit mankind.

From Wikipedia: "It's mission is to bring about “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity” through incentivized competition. It fosters high-profile competitions that motivate individuals, companies and organizations across all disciplines to develop innovative ideas and technologies that help solve the grand challenges that restrict humanity’s progress."

I first heard of the X PRIZE several years ago and was completely fascinated with their competitions. They have four main categories for competition:

1. Energy and Environment Prize Group
The goal of the Energy & Environment Prize Group is to generate breakthroughs in clean energy, climate change, energy distribution/storage, energy efficiency/use, and water resource management. Advances in these fields will lead to greater sustainability and efficiency, while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

2. Exploration Prize Grou
The goal of the Exploration Prize Group is to expand the use of space, the ocean and other unexplored frontiers in order to improve life on Earth and extend life beyond the confines of land. We believe we can achieve these objectives by researching space and Earth's oceans, accessing and conserving their resources, catalyzing private, non-governmental activity, and tapping into our innate wonder about the Earth, the Universe and our place within each.

3. Education and Global Development Prize Group (my favorite!)
The goal of the Education and Global Development Prize Group is to develop new and innovative ways to address major challenges in agriculture, capital, education, health and water. The competitions seek to highlight the most scalable enterprises that create wealth and uplift entire populations from poverty.

4. Life Science Prize Group 
The goal of the Life Sciences Prize Group is to stimulate innovative breakthroughs in molecular biology, stem cell research, bionics, organogenesis, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence in order to improve health care and extend healthy living. The X PRIZE Foundation looks to accelerate the real-world impact of science, technology, and information related to the worldwide optimization of health and the elimination of illness and disease.

You can read about what projects are in development and what projects are currently under consideration. My favorites include a global literacy project, a girls education project, a clean water initiative, and the organogenesis and rare disease projects. 

For more information, or to read more about these projects, check out their website: 
X PRIZE FOUNDATION 

Clearly, the X PRIZE Foundation is an amazing organization and they've had much success over the years. I love that they are trying to tackle the world's greatest problems by creating and managing large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prize competitions that stimulate investment in research and development.  They really are motivating and inspiring brilliant innovators from all disciplines to leverage their intellectual and financial capital.

However, I think we can do more. How come the X PRIZE isn't a household name? Why don't high school students know about it? I feel that right now, only a small percentage of the population knows about the X PRIZE and that is a weakness. Why isn't X PRIZE marketed the way APPLE or NIKE is advertised? Think of the potential talent they could attract if more people were aware of the projects and competitions and the prize money! I just believe that if we are truly trying to solve the world's problems with innovative thinking and breakthrough technology, we need everyone who might be interested in pursuing that goal on board. At the very least, we need them to be aware of organizations like this, so that they can make contact, get inspired, start their projects and contribute. At the very least, they would be working towards a noble goal and that is a beautiful thing.