Saturday, June 13, 2009

Non-Space Prize Roundup - June 13, 2009

February 2009 - Geotagged Photo Contest Winners - Panoramio - The image on the right is one of the honorable mentions. As usual, I pick one that makes me think of space for some reason - in this case because it seems like a satellite image. Also as usual, you'll want to check out the full set in full resolution and within the geospatial applications. Note: Because the winners are announced in a later month, I'm almost caught up! These were posted on May 7.

X PRIZE Cars blog is back:

Automotive X Prize News: May 27th, 2009
Automotive X Prize News: June 5th, 2009

From MIT News:

'Bother bots' win the day - Annual 2.007 robot competition features good defense
Husk Insulation wins $200,000 MIT Clean Energy Prize - Team from University of Michigan focused on advanced bio-based insulation
Ksplice software update project wins $100K competition - Global Cycle bike adapter is audience pick

Top honors this year in the 20th annual MIT $100k Entrepreneurship Competition went to Ksplice, a system that promises to end the annoyance and delays of having to reboot a computer every time a new update is installed. ...

Global Bicycle Solutions, winner of the audience choice award, has developed a simple system that can be attached to an ordinary bicycle to enable its pedal power to be used for other functions, such as removing kernels from corn, grinding grain or charging cell phones.

MassChallenge ~ Commonwealth Venture Funds! - Maximizing Progress
MassChallenge -

We propose using a combination of public and private funds to catalyze growth and jobs by launching a $25M dollar Venture Funds Competition in Massachusetts across 6 tracks:
  • Healthcare, and Life Sciences
  • IT, Software, and Gaming
  • Clean Technology and Energy
  • Social Development and Non-profit
  • Open Category, Seed Stage
  • Open Category, Expansion Stage

A Venture Funds Competition combines the collaborative, educational and catalytic impact of a business plan competition with the business and job creation of a seed fund.

Gleanings from X Prize/I2I - MIT Ideas Global Challenge

From Prize4Life:

Prize4Life and the Alzheimer Research Forum Announce Launch of New Web-Portal for ALS Research - Prize4Life and the Alzheimer Research Forum announce the release of the ALS Forum (www.ResearchALS.org) ...

$1M Biomarker Prize Challenge re-posted on InnoCentive - Prize4Life's $1 million ALS Biomarker Prize has re-opened. The goal of this prize competition is to discover a biomarker of ALS disease progression that can reduce the time and cost of clinical trials.

Recall that Prize4Life recently awarded 2 prizes for progress towards the Biomarker goal. Now the prize has a rolling deadline (first-to-win).

Prize4Life News Digest - 6/10
Prize4Life News Digest - 6/3
Prize4Life News Digest - 5/28
Prize4Life News Digest

From the X PRIZE Foundation News Scroller:

Gene sequencing will cost $1,000 in about 2 years, scientists predict - Boston Herald.com
Don't Let Innovation Go Over Your Head - 1to1 media
incentive2innovate - Peter Diamandis and Matt Bross - Business Strategy Innovation