Our challenge prize method

These prizes create genuinely transformative solutions to a difficult problem.

What makes a Breakthrough prize?

• Ambitious and tightly-defined goals
• Technological solutions
• Large prize pots
• A longer timeframe

How do we design a Breakthrough prize?

• We focus on developing a technological fix to a known barrier
• We look to develop innovations that don’t yet exist, or are in relatively early stages but facing a barrier to further development
• We structure criteria around the key attributes the solution must have, in order to solve the problem

See a Breakthrough prize in action

The Longitude Prize looks to invent an affordable, accurate, fast and easy-to-use test for bacterial infections allowing health professionals worldwide to administear the right antibiotics at the right time.

Learn more about the Longitude Prize

Designed to scale truly transformative innovations, to achieve a wider societal impact.

What makes a Scaling prize?

• Rewarding impact at scale, aiming to kickstart a clear potential market
• Creating scaling incentives where the market has failed to do so
• Quantifiable targets that reward those who reach them
• Typically targeting a small pool of thinkers with relevant skills and expertise

How do we design a Scaling prize?

• We focus on innovations that have been proven at a small scale and are known to have potentially wide impact at larger scale
• We structure and incentivise, to ensure every solution can grow
• We design around market uptake and the impact the innovation needs to have
• We ensure the prize promotes scaling that is sustainable and impactful

See a Scaling prize in action

The Afri-Plastics Challenge: Accelerating Growth challenge prize was designed to reduce marine plastics in Sub-Saharan African countries by developing innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement in a way that promotes gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.

Learn more about the Afri-Plastics Challenge: Accelerating Growth

These prizes seek to build capacity for early-stage problem-solvers, supporting their entry into the market

What makes a Startup challenge?

• Broad goals with a focus on bringing new people and new ideas into the field
• Emphasis on attracting budding problem-solvers and helping them to do more
• Larger numbers of entrants and prize participants through multiple stages with increasing levels of support

How do we design a Startup challenge?

We set a challenge goal to be broad so a wide pool of problem-solvers and innovations are eligible

• We establish a low bar to entry by accepting early stage ideas and simplifying the entry process
• We use seed grants and other support to help foster talent
• We ensure judging criteria is broad, to allow fair scoring of different ideas
• We weight resources through multiple stages to ensure resources are used most efficiently
• We balance smaller prize amounts against significant investment in capacity development support and grant funding

See a Startup prize in action

The Inventor Prize encouraged small, at-home inventors to overcome barriers to both funding and non-financial support.

Learn more about the Inventor Prize

Designed to develop better solutions by bringing teams of problem-solvers and communities together.

What makes a Community-centred challenge?

• Response to communities being neglected by existing solutions
• Typically features multiple stages with emphasis placed on facilitating meaningful collaboration between problem-solvers and the communities affected by the issue
• Innovations can be technology, product or service based

How do we design a Community-centred challenge?

• We set criteria to ensure all innovations are well suited to the community they are designed for
• We build in extensive interactions between problem-solving teams and end users
• We focus on relatively early-stage innovations that need to be tested and developed
• We invest a lot in collaboration, mentoring and events to foster crucial connection between problem-solvers and communities

See a Community-centred challenge in action

The Data Driven Farming Prize focused on creating tools to source, analyse and translate data into information that Nepalese farmers could use to improve productivity.

Learn more about the Data Driven Farming Prize

These prizes shine a light on a neglected issue or problem

What makes a Spotlight prize?

• Designed to highlight a broader problem and attract a wider range of innovation talent
• Focus on problems that suffer from a lack of awareness or with existing solutions that lack nuanced understanding of the end user’s needs
• Typically features significant investment in PR and communications

How do we design a Spotlight prize?

• We define an ambitious goal, aiming to develop a broad range of innovations focused on end users’ needs
• We consider how best to ensure that teams build a clear understanding of their end users and meaningfully involve them
• We use the excitement of the prize to build greater awareness of the issue, through strategic PR activities

See a Spotlight prize in action

The Mobility Unlimited Challenge sought to radically improve the mobility and independence of people with lower-limb paralysis through smarter assistive technology.

Learn more about the Mobility Unlimited Challenge

These challenges stimulate innovation, supporting regulatory objectives and informing future policies

What makes a Testbed challenge?

• An aim to inform policy and regulation. For example, to identify barriers to innovation or the need for new rules
• For use by governments and regulators with an interest in safely bringing new innovations and technologies to the market
• May include providing safe testing environments – physical or virtual – in which teams can experiment in a controlled fashion
• Open to a range of teams and thinkers, often with a focus on new entrants and disruptors

How do we design a Testbed challenge?

• We clearly define potential challenge learnings that could inform policy, and build them into the challenge process
• We consider how best to structure the challenge to make it attractive to a wide range of problem-solvers, using a mix of financial and other support incentives
• We assess the need for a physical or virtual testing environment, giving teams and policymakers the freedom to experiment, iterate and learn

See a Testbed challenge in action

The Legal Access Challenge set out to develop ambitious direct-to-user products, services and platforms in order to make legal services more accessible and affordable for individuals, families and small businesses.

Learn more about the Legal Access Challenge