Can a $10 Million Prize Help Wipe Away The Oil?
Many of America's best and brightest are working in All-Gulf, All-The-Time mode on questions such as: how to contain and measure a deep water oil gusher, how to cleanup an unprecedented mess, and how to imagine damages that will last decades.
But what if the best solutions aren't getting heard? And what if we aren't looking in all the right places?
The Deepwater Horizon unified command says it welcomes any and all suggestions, but BP and government officials seem variously incapable or unwilling to give a full vetting of more than 20,000 ideas. Even celebrity superstar powers James Cameron and Kevin Costner needed weeks to cut through the red tape.
Enter the X PRIZE.
At the fantastic TEDxOilSpill conference I attended in Washington, D.C. today, Francis Beland of the X PRIZE Foundation announced plans to give away $10 million to the best oil spill cleanup ideas it receives. The oil spill, Beland said, "is an extraordinary situation that requires extraordinary solutions."
His foundation's mission is to drive innovators to "radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity." It is well-known for similar and sometimes extremely successful giveaways. In 2004, the foundation awarded its first $10 million prize -- the largest in history -- to a team that won a contest to launch a new era of private space travel.
This prize, for new shoreline and open water cleanup solutions, will be different than past contests, Boland said. First, there is no set, final goal. Second, several winners could share the pot. Boland invited personal emails to francis@xprize.org for suggestions on how to structure the contest during the next few weeks.
The X PRIZE model, Boland said, works because it zeroes in on results, not process, and because it refuses to exclude anyone. In a contest to design a robotic lunar landing machine, for example, a group of video gamers beat out a team of aerospace insiders.
"It's never people from the industry. It's a free-thinker -- someone who is not restrained by today's system," Boland said. The foundation is also working with the White House on a "day-to-day" basis to make sure the winners' ideas are taken seriously, he said.
The transparent and inclusive X PRIZE approach is amazingly refreshing, especially in light of BP's murky, secretive decision-making process, and its out-and-out deceptive ways. David Gallo, an ocean exploration pioneer on Cameron's team, for example, was mystified about who is actually making the decisions to dump some 1.5 million gallons (to date) of toxic dispersant into the Gulf, a move few outside experts support.
Carl Safina, a renowned scientist and marine life advocate who choked up as he spoke of dying dolphins, was even harsher with his words. "Personally, I think the dispersants are a major strategy to hide the body...We've put the murderer in charge of the crime scene," he said.
Boland too lamented that his foundation could not start a context to cap the gushing well a mile beneath the sea surface. Apparently, BP refused to supply the necessary engineering data to run the contest.
In sum, BP has no control over the flow of the blown out well. It does have absolute control over the flow of ideas and information. Efforts like the X PRIZE will help change this
"It's never too late. We're going to launch a prize on the cleanup, and we're going to kick ass," Boland said.
Photo Credit: U.S. Navy/Wikimedia Commons
Jess Leber
is a Change.org editor. She most recently covered climate and energy issues as a reporter in Washington, D.C
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