====== Outcomes of inducement prizes ====== //Published 29 August, 2022; last updated 30 August, 2022//

This project is incomplete, contains information that may change over time, and may or may not be updated in the future

This is a dataset of prizes we could find for incentivizing progress toward a specific technical or intellectual goal.

===== Details =====

Inducement prizes are created to encourage effort toward solving a specific problem, usually by offering a large monetary award for accomplishing a goal according to pre-specified criteria. Inducement prizes are distinct from those recognizing past achievements, like the Fields Medal or Nobel Prize.¹

==== Methodology ====

We spent approximately 10-12 hours researching prizes for technological and intellectual progress, such as crossing the ocean or proving a mathematical theorem. For inclusion in our list, a prize needed to be:

Offered for accomplishing a well-specified goal that is reached primarily through intellectual or technological progress.
Announced before the goal had been achieved, with a specific prize amount.

For each prize, we tried to answer several questions:

What are the basic parameters, such as the prize amount, the conditions for winning, the year it was announced, and the financial sponsor?
Was the prize collected, and if so, by whom?
Was the prize’s goal achieved in the intended time frame and for the original prize amount?
Were there other notable consequences of the prize, such as increased interest in relevant industries or a change in public perception of the party offering the prize?

We were unable to answer every question for every prize in the time allotted to the project, nor were we able to investigate every prize that appeared to match our criteria.

==== Dataset ====

This table contains a condensed version of our dataset. The full dataset with sources can be found in this Google Sheet.

Prize Name	Organization or Financial Sponsor	Years	Prize Amount (2022 $M)	Outcome	Problem Area	Winner
XPrize (6 prizes)	XPrize	1996-2025	5 – 100	5 ongoing 1 awarded	Various	Scaled Composites
NASA Green Flight Challenge	NASA	2009 -2011	1.80	Awarded	Aviation	Pipistrel-USA
DARPA Grand Challenge	DARPA	2004-2005	3.10	Awarded	Autonomous vehicles	Stanford Racing Team
Millenium Problems	Clay Mathematics Institute	2000-2010	1.00 each (1.7 in 2000)	6 ongoing 1 awarded	Mathematics	Grigoriy Perelman
Kremer Prize	Henry Kremer	1959-1977	0.52	Awarded	Aviation	Dr. Paul MacCready
Orteig Prize	Raymond Orteig	1919-1927	0.44	Awarded	Aviation	Charles Lindbergh
Daily Mail Prizes	Daily Mail	1906-1930	.015 – 1.5	Other	Aviation	(Various)
Longitude Prize	British Government	1714-1735	5.72	Awarded	Navigation at sea	John Harrison

Primary author: Elizabeth Santos
Additional writing and research: Rick Korzekwa

===== Notes =====

From a UK government policy document on prizes:

“Innovation inducement prize (IIP): Sometimes referred to as simply an ‘innovation prize’, an IIP rewards whoever can first or most effectively meet a predefined challenge. The reward is often financial but can also include additional support, such as technical assistance. This type of prize incentivises innovation rather than rewarding past achievement (prizes that do this, such as the Nobel Prize, are referred to as recognition prizes).”

Jessica Roberts, Cheryl Brown, Clare Stott (2019) Using innovation inducement prizes for development: what more has been learned? https://www.gov.uk/research-for-development-outputs/using-innovation-inducement-prizes-for-development-what-more-has-been-learned