Olivier Usher
Director
Pronouns: He/Him
Oli leads the Challenge Works research team. He helps to identify promising areas for innovation and choose the most impactful focus for new prizes.
He has played a role in the development of much of our portfolio of prizes including the Mobility Unlimited Challenge and Open Up. He has also overseen research projects into potential prizes that haven’t (yet) seen the light of day ranging from aquaculture in India to whale conservation in the Atlantic: watch this space.
Alongside work on Challenge Works programmes, he has advised governments in Europe, North America and the Middle East, as well as the European Commission, on how to maximise the impact of their challenge prize programmes.
Prior to joining Challenge Works, he worked in science public relations, including a period as Public Information Officer for an ESA centre in Munich, where he coordinated European media relations for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Outside of work, he enjoys baking sourdough bread, drinking Belgian beer and learning Italian.
Blogs by Olivier
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Dexterous robots: bringing science fiction to life
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Can AI be a force for good in 2024?
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Manchester Prize: a new annual million pound challenge to reward UK-led breakthroughs in AI
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Defining your prize goal: lessons from the Homegrown Innovation Challenge
Blog
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You can lead an astronaut to water, but who will help them drink?
Thought Leadership
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Like the Red Arrows, but in space: how an aerobatic display of satellites could unlock innovation in orbit
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Pathways to Progress: Improving access to future-focused work for women on low incomes
Blog
Reports
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One small step: We’re designing a competition to help astronauts purify water from the moon
Blog
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What are the most promising areas of technological opportunity for innovation funders?
Thought Leadership
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Why focus on technology frontiers?
Thought Leadership
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Climate Change is a social justice problem, and we must act now
Blog
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Designing challenge funds
Thought Leadership
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Challenge funds – what, who, and why?
Thought Leadership
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City and region challenge funds
Thought Leadership
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From moonshots to bloomshots: How the Apollo Program shaped our thinking about how to grow plants
Blog
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First Earthshot Prize winners, COP26 and innovation for environmental sustainability
Blog
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Dear ARIA: Three tips for creating more ambitious challenge prizes
Blog
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Net Zero is within reach, if we back the right innovators
Thought Leadership
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How to frame a city-based challenge
Blog
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Why is space so important in 2020?
Thought Leadership
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The Great Innovation Challenge: How challenge prizes can kickstart the British economy
Reports
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Mapping the UK drone industry
Blog
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Two prizes to transform nutrition and livelihoods in India and Bangladesh
Blog