Incentivizing Innovation for the Oceans and Beyond

Abstract

Abstract For over a decade, XPRIZE has been the leader in incentivized global prize competitions. Historically, such competitions have radically changed the world by spurring the rapid innovation of technologies to address societal challenges. XPRIZE currently has four active global competitions, including the $2 million Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE to develop accurate, robust, and affordable pH sensors to improve our understanding of ocean acidification. This addresses the grand challenge of the overwhelming lack of data on our oceans. Innovations are expected to emerge from this competition that could be adapted to other ocean sensors, including portability, ease of deployment and recovery, solutions to address power and biofouling limitations, and data recovery using modern software and wireless capabilities. This competition is part of the XPRIZE Ocean Initiative, which is a suite of five ocean XPRIZE competitions that, over 10 years, will award millions of dollars to innovators who can solve some of the grand challenges facing the ocean. Collectively, these ocean-focused prizes aim to achieve the XPRIZE vision of a healthy, valued, and understood ocean.