Notes from the session:
XPrize Foundation is trying to build a $10M prize project re: creating wealth at bottom of pyramid
to get a quick history of the XPrize Foundation origins check the web site at http://www.xprize.org/
Have seen all kinds of prize-driven successes throughout history: Trans-Altantic flight, chronometer, margerine and X-Prize's space flight prize
We're talking about how we change the way people think, exploring what's possible leveraging prize money into innovation
Past XPrizes:
2006: Genome decoding
2007: moon travel
2008: Automotive w/ 100mpg car (152 entries so far in this prize)
Now want to bring model to global development realm, the 2-3B people who need a little bit of oomph to improve own lives
Looking at six domains for development:
- agriculture
- public health
- IT/wireless
- water/sanitation
- transportation
- Financial Systems
What's the next microfinance? what's the next economic revolution?
Anyone can win this prize, even someone in this room (of 30 people) or reading this wiki
How? Visualize a specific place in Africa you've been & dream of what it should be like in 50-60 years. With that vision as a baseline, design a prize (the goal) to help reach it.
The big challenge is to create a tight set of rules around the competition, but aim for a contest that takes 5-8 years to win
You don't want some challenge that can be solved in 3 years (challenge isn't hard enough), but do want it solve-able, thus the 5-8 year horizon
Have an idea for this prize for creating wealth at the bottom of the pyramid? email it to pragnya at xprize dot org
One crowd-sourced idea: Self-powered kitchens (place where food is stored and prepared) where no outside fuel (wood, coal) required
What's your idea?
