Context and Design

THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH:Funding, Funding Mechanism, and Public-Private Collaborations

USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

March 15, 2012

Prizes for International Development

Without the prize system the manufacturers would not have been guided to the production of implements really required.

Royal Society of Arts, 1864

In, Brunt, Lerner, Nicholas, “Inducement Prizes and Innovation” (HBS: 2011)

Background

Results-only financing. Pay for success.

Investment leverage. Funds invested by competitors typically exceeds what is spent on operating and awarding the prize.

Pathway agnostic. Won’t predict which team or approach is best; only desired outcome is specified.

Global talent pool. Attract some of the best minds in the world, focus them on your problem.

Highly publicized. Prizes can educate, inspire, and mobilize the public.

*Adapted from X-PRIZE: Innovation Prizes and Development (2011)

Benefits of Prizes

Design for Development

A creative, results-oriented community of practice that will “get” the call, engage, and bring energy to the effort.

Challenge Driven Innovation

Recognized approach to accelerating research and development while mitigating risk by tapping creativity in crowds.

Grand Challenges Galvanize international attention and aspiration around some common purpose.

Federal Prizes Provision of broad authority and legitimacy for aspirational, experimental tools and approaches to innovation.

Open Innovation An approach to problem-solving emphasizing networks, transparency, and cooperation.

Prizes for Development Context aka Why Now?

Recognition Stimulation Solution

Winner take all

• Goal is validation, encouragement and celebration.

• A single winner selected for past achievement in a field or discipline.

Rank order

• Goal is ideation and mobilization.

• A limited sequence of winners selected based on design criteria.

Proportional

• Goal is research and development focused.

• A series of winners are selected for relative achievement based on solution criteria.

Well-e

volved

Exp

erim

ental

Prize Typology

Oil Cleanup X Challenge

8

• Specific focus, relevant problem

• Tiered prize design

• Specific technical requirements for success (Clean surface oil at a rate >2500GPM, 70% efficiency)

• Limited timeframe to achieve success (1YR)

•Motivating prize purse ($1.4M)

• Entrant run-off process

• Significant team support

• Full-scale simulation test facility

Set Up

10

• 10 teams successfully competed

• Performance judged by 8 field experts

• $1M winner exceeded requirement (>4500GPM with 89.5% efficiency)

• Single $300k runner up hit requirement (>2700GPM)

Outcome

Agriculture Prizes

• Inputs (increasing yields eg hybrid rice, water management, drought-resistant strains)

•Outputs (post harvest management eg lower cost of storage technology, displacement of toxigenic organisms, and systems to improve plant health)

• Livestock (protection, quality control, payment mechanisms, input tests)

•Nutrition (Fortification in specific products eg cereals, noodles; iron bio-availability, and RUSF diversification

World Bank, Agriculture “Pull” Mechanisms

*Adapted from AGPM: The Agricultural Pull Mechanism Initiative (World Bank, 2011)

• Prevent or combat crop infection and infestation and post-harvest loss

• Targeting small-scale farmers in developing world

• Looking to expand from genetics and chemicals eg- Biological and engineering control- Novel strategies in crop and pest management- New strategies to couple sustainability, crop protection

• Seeks to motivate new researchers, entrepreneurs

Gates Foundation, Biotic Stress

• “Powering Agriculture”- Production- Storage- Value-added processing

• Ready-to-Use Supplemental Foods (RUSFs)

Agriculture Prizes at USAID

Our Practice

1. Problem - A prize to invite, discover new thinking

and approaches to a problem

2. Solution - A prize to develop new solutions to a

well-defined problem

3. Dissemination - A prize to determine the best

pathways for technology delivery, scale

4. Impact - A prize to achieve a specific result,

regardless of technology approach

Prize Design Continuum

Time

N S

olut

ions

OutcomeImpactDisseminationSolutionProblem

Potential Prize Targets

+

+

1 2 3 4

Prize Design Continuum

Evaluate ImplementBuildDesign ValidateDefine

Time

What is the problem to be solved, and who is directly affected by this problem?

What is the case that this problem is significant, and who can help make that case?

What is the outcome desired, and what activities will drive toward that outcome? Who else needs to be involved?

What platform, tools, and assets are needed to incentivize behavior that will lead to desired outcome?

Who needs to know about the prize, and how will you reach them? What is their role in the prize process?

How well was the problem solved, and were the outcomes achieved?

1 2 3 4 5 6

Carefully assess and lay out the time requirements foreach stage of the prize design process

Carefully assess and lay the resource requirements -human and financial - for each stage of the prizedesign process

Prize Design Approach

NO

NO

1. Define 2. ValidateYES

NO

3. Design 4. Build

NO

YES

5a. Recruit

5d. Announce

5c. Winner

YES

YES

NO

YES

END

5c.2 Relaunch

c.3 Redesign

6. EvaluateStart/End

SecondaryOutcome

Decision/Action

Secondary Decision

KEY

Product/Outcome

5. Implement

5b. Judge

Prize Design Roadmap

•Market uptake. If its a “solution” prize, understand the potential for the market uptake and dissemination of successful solutions. Plan to put agency resources and technical assistance toward this end after the prize contest.

•Design for engagement. Consider the enormous potential to create an innovation marketplace - a place where skills and ideas are naturally shared and connected - an how that can be leveraged over time, beyond the prize.

•Solver community. Understand range of potential solvers and ensure that necessary administrative procedures and supports are in place to make an award for success. Know where to go to reach them ie the right prize platform.

•Caretaking. Prizes can be stiff processes. Agencies can transform them into robust community building and learning processes through feedback, mentoring, connection making, celebration. This is critical for long-term success of prizes as a mechanism.

•Champion results. Regardless of whether the prize was a success or failure, have a plan to communicate the outcomes, lessons learned, and key insights - including feedback from participants.

Roadmap Considerations

• Internal uptake. Prizes are a new mechanism and will require internal advocacy, capacity building, and administrative procedures to work.

• Design for learning. Its easy to focus on delivering bureaucratic value. Design each prize with the focus of performance improvement as well.

• Implementation. Prizes have to be seen as part of a larger strategy to deliver better outcomes. Ensure prizes are backed by a long-term “go to market” play.

• Transparency. Transparency is not part of many agencies’ DNA. To succeed over time the agency must respond to fairness requirements - intent, process, and outcomes.

Agency Considerations

• Prize Prospecting. Can you help us identify key gaps in agricultural practice that can be assisted through innovation?

• Prize Process. Can you help us understand ways to improve practice and better engage stakeholder community?

• Prize Assessment. Can you help us to measure the impact of innovation in ways that help us understand pathways and outcomes?

Researchers Can Help

Lars Hasselblad Torres

Prize Advisor, DAI

202-549-2322

lhtorres@gmail.com

Thank You