CNN Loves Us!

Hey Readers,

I have some exciting news for you all. In my last post, I wrote about the success of X PRIZE Foundation's annual Visioneering Event. One of the attendees of the weekend event was Ali Velshi, from CNN News. Since the event, he has interviewed Wendy Schmidt about the Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE, and the clip aired on CNN a few days ago! Check it out HERE.

Ali also spoke on CNN about incentivized competitions, and how they spark innovation. For that clip, click HERE.

The videos are definitely worth watching!

More soon,
Alex at X PRIZE

Visioneering 2011!

Hey All!

The weekend of April 16-17 was a great weekend for the X PRIZE Foundation. We had our annual Visioneering event, where we hosted more than 100 CEO's, philanthropists, and heads of innovation. The event took place at FOX Studios, in Century City, Los Angeles, and was an overall success. The weekend focused on identifying the world's biggest problems, which can potentially be solved through incentivized competitions. More than 50 prize concepts were generated, debated, and then narrowed down to the top eight, which will guide our work for the next year!

Wendy Schmidt spoke at the reception about the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE, where we are now in the competition, and her passion for cleaning up the Gulf.

Take a look!

Alex at X PRIZE 

Our Judges Announced!

Hello Faithful Readers,

On this day, one year ago, something unimaginable happened. But, The X PRIZE Foundation is proud to announce that today, we have our final eight judges for our Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE!

We have been working extremely hard to develop this competition, and lay out what the actual test will look like. We have met with experts in oceanography, and in oil to determine the best way to present this, and we are pleased to announce the judges! Please see below an excerpt taken directly from the press release:

"The X PRIZE Foundation today announced its roster of judges for the $1.4 Million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE. As the one year anniversary (April 20) of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill reminds us of last year’s tragedy, the X CHALLENGE’s goal of inspiring entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists worldwide to develop innovative, rapidly deployable, and highly efficient methods of capturing crude oil from the ocean surface remains more relevant and timely than ever.

“This X CHALLENGE was developed as a result of the increasing awareness and disappointment at the inefficiency of our oil spill cleanup capabilities,” said Wendy Schmidt, President of The Schmidt Family Foundation and title sponsor of the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE. “As we look back on the last year and remember the disaster of the Gulf oil spill, I’m more optimistic than ever that this X CHALLENGE will help inspire new and innovative oil spill technologies that will allow us to respond faster and minimize the environmental impact of any future spills.”

“The Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE has received an overwhelming response since the competition was first announced and we’re amazed by the amount of teams and individuals who have expressed an interest in competing, particularly given the current relevance of oil spill cleanup technologies,” said Francis Beland, Vice President of Prize Development at the X PRIZE Foundation. “Our slate of judges brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience to this competition. We’re honored to have such an elite group of individuals working with us to determine our final group of competitors and to be on-hand to judge the testing at OHMSETT this summer.”

The members of the judging panel are experts in fields such as oceanography and the oil industry, and include:

• John Joe Dec, retired United States Coast Guard hazardous substance spill response professional;
• Eugene Johnson, retired United States Coast Guard Captain and former Chief of Marine Safety for the Fifth U.S. Coast Guard District;
• Hung Nguyen, of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE);
• Skip Przelomski, Vice President and Senior Technical Advisor of the Clean Caribbean & Americas (CCA);
• Dennis Takahashi-Kelso, Executive Vice President of Ocean Conservancy;
• Donald A. Toenshoff, Jr., Executive Vice President of the Marine Spill Response Corporation;
• Peter K. Velez, Global Emergency Response Manager for Shell International Exploration and Production;
• and Dave Westerholm, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Response and Restoration"

To read more about Phases I and II of the competition, click to read the full press release.

Alex at X PRIZE

One Year Later

Hey Everyone!

So, as you probably know, today is the one-year anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill. One year anniversaries of tragic events tend to bring up a lot of emotions in people. Anger, sadness, confusion, maybe a little shock at how far we have or haven't come. But, I believe that it is most important to focus only on positive things. I don't want to discount the terrible tragedy that happened one year ago, because it was horrible, and the images still stay with me today, but I feel that it will not move me in a direction of healing, and helping, to focus on anything less than positive things.

We can't dwell on something that has already happened, and we have to somehow move on, and try our best to clean up the mess in the Gulf, and fix the situation as best we can. Then, we must move to preventing future problems of the same nature.

What are your thoughts on this day, one year later?