New White House Report: Prize Competition Use Increased 85% in 2013

We are thrilled to share an update from our competition colleagues at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The third annual comprehensive report detailing the use of prizes and competitions by federal agencies to spur innovation, engage citizen solvers, address tough problems, and advance their core missions is now available — Federal Prize Authority 2013.

You can read details about the remarkable results from 87 prize competitions implemented by 25 federal agencies in fiscal year 2013, representing a more than 85 percent increase from 2012.

Cristin Dorgelo’s WhiteHouse.gov blog post summarizes several of the trends reviewed in-depth in the report:

• Growth in the number of competitions and the size of prize purses
• Increased focus on using prizes to identify novel solutions (over other possible outcomes)
• Emphasis on creating a post-competition path to success for new solutions
• More prizes for effective and low-cost software and information technology solutions
• New models for engaging the public and building communities during competitions

To see the full list of public prize competitions run in federal government, go to Challenge.gov.

Join us at a challenge and prize community meeting May 28 to review the findings “challenge dot gov community event”) of this report. This is open to federal employees who work on or are interested in launching federal challenge and prize competitions.