Is the X Prize Foundation doing enough?

When reading the X Prize article, I found myself intrigued by the notion of using competition to fuel social progress. Like Vander Ark, I agree that “a prize mechanism is very useful” when dealing with ambiguous problems (15 minutes, 2008). This intrigue turned to disappointment, however, upon review of the foundation’s website.

Despite Vander Ark’s expression of confidence in the foundation’s ability to “identify several entry points where prizes can make a big difference,” ‘Education and Global Development’ is the only of the group’s four prize areas (energy and environment, exploration, education and global development, life sciences), for which there are no planned future prizes listed on the organization’s website (15 minutes, 2008). This speaks to either a lack of interest in the educational sector or, as Vander Ark referred to in the article, evidence of a lack of investment “spent in this field because the returns to investors have been weak” (15 minutes, 2008).

In either case, it is disappointing that in the 2 years since the article was published, the potential to improve educational issues through competition that Vander Ark spoke of has remain untapped. This is especially true due to the widespread education and literacy issues currently present within both the developed world, such as the US, and developing countries.

Although developing solutions to issues related to getting laymen to the moon or producing a car with lower fuel emissions is arguably more exciting than coming up with a sustainable method of educating inner city children, I contend that the latter is equally if not more important (Home Page). Thus, I hope that the X Prize Foundation soon lives up to Vander Ark’s words and funds a prize competition aimed at “focus[ing]…attention on an important education goal” (15 minutes, 2008).

As of now, the foundation’s website contains no concrete evidence of plans for doing so. They are however soliciting ideas for the focus of such a competition, be it on the national or international scale. I encourage interested parties to participate in this solicitation. Ideas can be submitted at the following link: http://www.xprize.org/x-prizes/propose-an-x-prize

Sources:

15 minutes. (2008, Winter). Stanford Social Innovation Review , p. 3.

Home Page. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 30, 2010, from X Prize Foundation: http://www.xprize.org/