Challenge prizes create pathways to developing, testing and scaling innovation Challenge prizes are a way to deliver innovation around a specific mission. They are well-suited for complex problems that lack obvious, straightforward solutions: challenges set out a problem to be solved, but don’t specify the route to the desired outcomes (unlike procurement exercises, where the solution is readily defined). They allow a wider range of actors to propose solutions, and welcome proposals
that are potentially more risky and experimental, but only reward those that work best. Challenge prizes offer a series of incentives and support to develop, test and scale solutions, with a final prize given to whoever can first or most effectively meet a defined goal.
Climate Possible: How funders can accelerate innovation for a resilient future
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