Challenge prizes have gained popularity recently as a method to stimulate innovation and tackle societal issues with significant rewards, such as over £12 million for various challenges. The concept is not new, dating back to the Longitude prize in 1714, which incentivized developing a solution for determining longitudinal position at sea. Today, organizations like Challenge Works provide comprehensive support beyond just financial incentives to ensure that participants succeed. Rising concerns over slow innovation and constrained public budgets have led to increased reliance on challenge prizes as a cost-effective way to encourage new ideas.
Such prizes have seen a resurgence in the past decade, in the hope that a hefty reward can turbocharge innovation and solve some of society's stickiest problems.
Dyson says that running a successful innovation prize takes a lot more than simply dangling a pot of money, and Challenge Works now provides support ranging from funding grants to community-building events.
The current interest in such prizes came out of concerns that the pace of innovation was slowing, and with public finances becoming more constrained, prizes could offer a cheaper way to stimulate new ideas.
We reward people for the work that they already do, says pr.
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