1. Prizes for International Development
Context and Design
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH:
Funding, Funding Mechanism, and Public-Private Collaborations
USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
March 15, 2012

2.  Without the prize system the manufacturers would
not have been guided to the production of
implements really required.
 Royal Society of Arts, 1864
In, Brunt, Lerner, Nicholas, “Inducement Prizes and Innovation” (HBS: 2011)

3. Background

4. Benefits of Prizes
 Results-only financing. Pay for success.
 Investment leverage. Funds invested by competitors
typically exceeds what is spent on operating and awarding
the prize.
 Pathway agnostic. Won’t predict which team or
approach is best; only desired outcome is specified.
 Global talent pool. Attract some of the best minds in
the world, focus them on your problem.
 Highly publicized. Prizes can educate, inspire, and
mobilize the public.
*Adapted from X-PRIZE: Innovation Prizes and Development (2011)

5. Prizes for Development Context aka Why Now?
Design for A creative, results-oriented community of practice that will “get” the call,
Development engage, and bring energy to the effort.
Challenge Driven Recognized approach to accelerating research and development while
Innovation mitigating risk by tapping creativity in crowds.
Galvanize international attention and aspiration around some common
Grand Challenges purpose.
Provision of broad authority and legitimacy for aspirational, experimental
Federal Prizes tools and approaches to innovation.
An approach to problem-solving emphasizing networks, transparency, and
Open Innovation cooperation.

6. Prize Typology
Recognition Stimulation Solution
• Goal is validation,
encouragement and
celebration.
Winner take all • A single winner selected
Well-evolved
for past achievement in a
field or discipline.
• Goal is ideation and
mobilization.
Rank order • A limited sequence of
winners selected based
on design criteria.
• Goal is research and
Experimental
development focused.
• A series of winners are
Proportional selected for relative
achievement based on
solution criteria.

7. Oil Cleanup X Challenge

8. Set Up
• Specific focus, relevant problem
• Tiered prize design
• Specific technical requirements for success
(Clean surface oil at a rate >2500GPM, 70%
efficiency)
• Limited timeframe to achieve success (1YR)
• Motivating prize purse ($1.4M)
• Entrant run-off process
• Significant team support
• Full-scale simulation test facility
8

10. Outcome
• 10 teams successfully competed
• Performance judged by 8 field experts
• $1M winner exceeded requirement (>4500GPM
with 89.5% efficiency)
• Single $300k runner up hit requirement
(>2700GPM)
10

11. Agriculture Prizes

12. World Bank, Agriculture “Pull” Mechanisms
• Inputs (increasing yields eg hybrid rice, water
management, drought-resistant strains)
• Outputs (post harvest management eg lower cost
of storage technology, displacement of toxigenic
organisms, and systems to improve plant health)
• Livestock (protection, quality control, payment
mechanisms, input tests)
• Nutrition (Fortification in specific products eg
cereals, noodles; iron bio-availability, and RUSF
diversification
*Adapted from AGPM: The Agricultural Pull Mechanism Initiative (World Bank, 2011)

13. Gates Foundation, Biotic Stress
• Prevent or combat crop infection and infestation and
post-harvest loss
• Targeting small-scale farmers in developing world
• Looking to expand from genetics and chemicals eg
- Biological and engineering control
- Novel strategies in crop and pest management
- New strategies to couple sustainability, crop protection
• Seeks to motivate new researchers, entrepreneurs

14. Agriculture Prizes at USAID
• “Powering Agriculture”
- Production
- Storage
- Value-added processing
• Ready-to-Use Supplemental Foods (RUSFs)

15. Our Practice

16. Prize Design Continuum
1. Problem - A prize to invite, discover new thinking
and approaches to a problem
2. Solution - A prize to develop new solutions to a
well-defined problem
3. Dissemination - A prize to determine the best
pathways for technology delivery, scale
4. Impact - A prize to achieve a specific result,
regardless of technology approach

17. Prize Design Continuum
Potential Prize Targets
1 2 3 4
Problem Solution Dissemination Impact Outcome
+
N Solutions
+
Time

18. Prize Design Approach
Define Validate Design Build Implement Evaluate
1 2 3 4 5 6
What is the What is the case What is the What platform, Who needs to How well was the
problem to be that this problem outcome desired, tools, and assets know about the problem solved,
solved, and who is significant, and and what are needed to prize, and how and were the
is directly who can help activities will incentivize will you reach outcomes
affected by this make that case? drive toward that behavior that will them? What is achieved?
problem? outcome? Who lead to desired their role in the
else needs to be outcome? prize process?
involved?
Time
Carefully assess and lay out the time requirements for Carefully assess and lay the resource requirements -
each stage of the prize design process human and financial - for each stage of the prize
design process

19. Prize Design Roadmap
YES
c.3 Redesign
NO
NO
YES
YES
1. Define 2. Validate 3. Design 4. Build 5. Implement
5a. Recruit
NO YES
5b. Judge
NO
5c. Winner 5c.2 Relaunch
YES NO
KEY
Start/ Product/ Secondary Decision/ Secondary
5d. Announce 6. Evaluate END
End Outcome Outcome Action Decision

20. Roadmap Considerations
• Market uptake. If its a “solution” prize, understand the potential for the market
uptake and dissemination of successful solutions. Plan to put agency resources
and technical assistance toward this end after the prize contest.
• Design for engagement. Consider the enormous potential to create an
innovation marketplace - a place where skills and ideas are naturally shared and
connected - an how that can be leveraged over time, beyond the prize.
• Solver community. Understand range of potential solvers and ensure that
necessary administrative procedures and supports are in place to make an award
for success. Know where to go to reach them ie the right prize platform.
• Caretaking. Prizes can be stiff processes. Agencies can transform them into
robust community building and learning processes through feedback, mentoring,
connection making, celebration. This is critical for long-term success of prizes as
a mechanism.
• Champion results. Regardless of whether the prize was a success or failure,
have a plan to communicate the outcomes, lessons learned, and key insights -
including feedback from participants.

21. Agency Considerations
• Internal uptake. Prizes are a new mechanism and will
require internal advocacy, capacity building, and
administrative procedures to work.
• Design for learning. Its easy to focus on delivering
bureaucratic value. Design each prize with the focus of
performance improvement as well.
• Implementation. Prizes have to be seen as part of a
larger strategy to deliver better outcomes. Ensure prizes
are backed by a long-term “go to market” play.
• Transparency. Transparency is not part of many
agencies’ DNA. To succeed over time the agency must
respond to fairness requirements - intent, process, and
outcomes.

22. Researchers Can Help
• Prize Prospecting. Can you help us identify key gaps in
agricultural practice that can be assisted through
innovation?
• Prize Process. Can you help us understand ways to
improve practice and better engage stakeholder
community?
• Prize Assessment. Can you help us to measure the
impact of innovation in ways that help us understand
pathways and outcomes?

23. Thank You
Lars Hasselblad Torres
Prize Advisor, DAI
202-549-2322
lhtorres@gmail.com