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haychris00

I just finished reading the book "Abundance" by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler and there was there are some interesting parallels to the OSE project. There is a section on more or less using greed as a tool for stimulating the rapid innovation of technology. This is the whole basis for the X Prize Foundation. Basically the idea involves setting close to impossible challenges and offering a large prizes as a motivator, the kicker is that if won the initial investment of prize money is repaid many times over in new ideas, techniques and technology. The best part is that this type of competition tends to discourage entrenched thinkers and attracts a diverse group of innovators all working on their own dollar. Some of the examples used were prizes to innovate new aviation technologies (Orteig Prize), computer aided resource estimation (Gold mining ) and most recently development of commercially viable spacecraft (SpaceShipOne). It might not work but it seems like the idea could be adapted to suit some of the more difficult GVCS prototypes. At best a group of OSE Prizes could be a easy way to exploit the specialized knowledge base needed to rapidly complete the GVCS, at worst no one takes the prize money and the development continues at a slower pace. That all I have to say. Read the book if you get the chance.

Diogenes

Setting up an Open Source Hardware X Prize fund was my answer to what I'd do if I won the 300 million dollar lottery jackpot there was a few months ago. Unfortunately, no multimillionaires are likely to set up such a fund to create an autocatalytic tool set. Let alone an open source one. FeF gets what little money it has through grants, which I believe means it has to spend the money in very specific ways that would exclude any kind of x-prize. That said, it's an interesting idea in theory.

They're allotting $360k budgets for at least 2 third parties to develop things, so having a $720k x prize for something with a lot of other OSE components, with milestone awards along the way could possibly motivate better results. That is to say, if the ultimate goal was an end of the line product like an OSE Car, but you also had to develop an OSE aluminum frame and the tools to make it, OSE carbon fiber body maker, OSE IC Engine, OSE hydraulic powertrain, OSE tires, etc etc along the way. And each one had a miniprize associated with it, as well as points for a final score in case of multiple finished designs for a tie breaker scenario. All added up, it's over 2 million dollars of non-FeF budgeting. However, that's claimed to be equivalent to a whopping 86 prototypes. I don't even think an x-prize could match that. Plus they can have a measure of control over documentation quality and full control over the open source nature. With an x-prize, someone could decide not to collect the prize money and patent their creation. If the numbers are correct, 86 prototypes for 2 million dollars is a bargain that not even an x-prize can match. I suppose we'll have to wait and see if the roll out plan can realize those numbers.

haychris00

When you put it that way, it does sound kinda silly. I don't expect that multimillionaires are willing to part with millions of dollars just to undercut their own profit margins. Well, now I know what to do with my money when I win the lottery, I'll go buy a ticket as soon as I get struck by lightning twice.

Matt_Maier

The innovation prizes don't work because they offer money, they work because they create a spectacle. The winners never turn a profit off of the prize money, even if they get it all. The "greed" being satisfied, if any, is that you and your inevitable business become famous because the prize foundation and the media do all your advertising for you.

It's entirely possible that a series of prizes would work quite well for developing open source technology. We just need to figure out how to clearly define each prize. No one's ever heard of aluminum extraction before, and once they do hear about it they won't care what it is, so that wouldn't make a very good competition. There's already been an automotive prize, so it might be hard to justify another one if it's not significantly different. A lot of the GVCS machines seem too specific or too boring to be good subjects for a prize.

If I had to pick a GVCS-related X prize I think I'd go with the magical steam engine. Since being in OSE I've seen a lot of ideas that seem to justify the development of external combustion engines, and I've seen a whole array of stupid and awesome steam engine ideas...but the only ideas I've seen demonstrated are the lame ones that can't possibly scale or be useful in any way. I think a good argument could be made for a modern steam engine X prize; everyone is already familiar with the idea of a steam engine, some places in the world still use them, and it's a technology that everyone could try to participate in. Maybe a $1 Million prize would make sense for something of that size.

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