Subcommittee Examines Scientific Prize Competitions
(Washington, DC) – Today, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Research and Technology held a hearing to examine the role of scientific competitions in furthering innovation and scientific discovery.
Testifying before the subcommittee was Mr. Christopher Frangione, Vice President of Prize Development for XPRIZE; Mr. Donnie Wilson, Founder and CEO of Elastec American Marine; Mr. Narinder Singh, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Appirio and President of TopCoder; and Dr. Sharon Moe, President of the American Society of Nephrology.
Ranking Member Dan Lipinski (D-IL) of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology said in his opening statement, “Prize challenges inspire and help spur technological advancement by tapping into the strength of American ingenuity, and both the public and private sectors are increasingly making use of this tool to accelerate innovation… One benefit of prize challenges is that the prize is awarded only once a challenge has been met; this allows agencies to incentivize high-risk, high-reward research that generally constitutes only a very small percentage of federally funded research. Prize competitions also attract participants who do not typically seek government grants or contracts.”
Members and witnesses discussed the value of competition in scientific research, the inspiration that prizes provide young people, and the magnitude and nature of the problems that scientific prize competitions can address. There was also discussion on the importance of federal agencies holding prize competitions and how to optimally design these competitions to maximize participation and help ensure success.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said in her prepared statement, “Though they are no substitute for traditional federal R&D funding, prize competitions could play a more prominent role in how the government funds R&D than they have in the past. The broad federal prize authority granted to all federal agencies in the 2010 COMPETES Reauthorization supports agencies’ increased use of prizes to incentivize more high-risk, high-reward research and reach out to a new audience of researchers and innovators across all areas of science and technology.”
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