Tuesday, December 15, 2015

XPrize Launches New $7M Ocean Prize, The Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize

The XPrize organization, the group which runs prizes to spur big advances in technology to help advance solutions to big, world issues, has launched a brand new prize, focused on the ocean. The Culver City-based group said the new Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE will award $7M to advance ocean technologies for rapid and unmanned ocean exploration. The new, three year long effort will challenge teams to create a map of the ocean seafloor; produce high resolution images of objects underwater; and prove that their inventions are resilient and durable, and can be operated and deployed from the shore or air, at a depth of up to 4,000 meters. The NOAA is also supplying a $1M, bonus prize for teams including the ability to trace a chemical or biological signal to its source.