Monday, January 28, 2008

The State of Prizes

This one from the Financial Times (and linked by the X PRIZE Foundation news scroller) gives a good summary of the state of innovation prizes, including the efforts of the X PRIZE Foundation like the Ansari X PRIZE, the M prize, and many historical prizes. It also discusses some very large prize/contract hybrids that may be offered by the Gates Foundation and governments to solve health-related problems.

There's also coverage of some of the academic and economic arguments about the pros and cons of prizes compared to grants, patents, and contracts.