U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Dist. 14), right, and U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Dist. 3) help unveil the new Congressional Prize Caucus last week in Washington, D.C. | Contributed photo
U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Dist. 14), right, and U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Dist. 3) help unveil the new Congressional Prize Caucus last week in Washington, D.C. | Contributed photo
U.S. Reps. Randy Hultgren (R-Dist. 14) and Dan Lipinski (D-Dist. 3) recently announced the formation of the Congressional Prize Caucus to encourage more private citizens to get involved in large-scale innovation.
The caucus will work with legislators and federal agencies to promote public prize competitions as a means of generating big ideas on issues that would otherwise be addressed through typical channels such as grant funding and private research and development.
.“I’m a firm believer in enlisting the private sector to innovate in all areas of discovery, such as space exploration and health care, and prize competitions are one way to spur research and excitement around the big issues facing our nation," Hultgren said.
The launch was co-hosted by XPRIZE, an organization that holds large-scale prize competitions to solicit solutions in the areas of learning, exploration, energy and environment, global development and life sciences. Previous XPRIZE winners, along with NASA, USAID and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, were on hand to give demonstrations of their innovations.
"We are committed to ensuring prizes thrive as a tool to incentivize disruptive ideas to bring about dramatic breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity," Christopher Frangione, XPRIZE's vice president of prize development, said.
Among XPRIZE's largest offered prizes is $30 million in a competition to land a privately funded robot on the moon.
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