XPRIZE takes on the world’s hardest problems—those too big, too complex, or too risky for others to touch. We don’t just catalyze bold ideas. We engineer them for real-world outcomes, and scale them to shift entire systems.

Many competition ideas come from our Brain Trust, a group of experts across XPRIZE's Focus Areas who volunteer their time towards identifying and addressing the most urgent problems that humanity is facing. Through XPRIZE’s Global Visioneering process, a year-long undertaking where the Brain Trust's ideas are vetted and developed into concepts for competitions (or "prize sketches"), the top prize sketches of the year are brought to XPRIZE's annual Visioneering event for real-time voting and fundraising by the XPRIZE community. 

Others can come from XPRIZE Design Studio, an annual program where the public is invited to take a course to learn about designing incentive competitions and submit ideas for XPRIZE competitions. These are carefully considered by the XPRIZE Global Visioneering team and the leadership of XPRIZE's Focus Areas; any ideas determined to be viable may be integrated into the Global Visioneering process.

Ideas may also be proposed by other outside sources, such as potential sponsors or partner organizations looking to solve a challenge that we cannot afford to ignore.

Regardless of the source of the idea, XPRIZE designs competitions with clear, ambitious outcomes that push innovators toward measurable breakthroughs, balancing rigor with openness to diverse approaches to deliver real-world solutions.

It depends on multiple factors, including the urgency and scale of the challenge, fundraising efforts, and how fast the industry that XPRIZE is working to revolutionize is changing. Once it’s determined that an idea (or “prize sketch”) could be a viable XPRIZE competition, it is further developed by our prize design team, at which point a Sponsor or multiple Sponsors can help fund the prize to launch. Some competitions can be ready to launch in months or even weeks if the need is immediate, like XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing. Others that are large scale or have operational and testing complexity, like XPRIZE Wildfire and XPRIZE Healthspan, may take a few years.

XPRIZE’s prize design team conducts deep research and collaborates with diverse subject matter experts around the world to focus the competition for greatest impact. From shaping goals and success metrics to defining rules, timeline, and incentive structure, every element is carefully crafted to balance ambition with achievability and inspire innovators to take part.

Prize purses are set during the prize design process. The team considers factors such as team research and development cost, the overall timeline of the competition, and opportunities to include milestone or bonus awards that help motivate broad participation, lower barriers to participation, and help top-performing teams sustain their engagement.

Prize purses often come from one or a variety of Sponsors. Do you know a challenge we can’t afford to ignore? Sponsor the prize that solves it. Leave a legacy of real-world solutions that turn possibilities into impact.

XPRIZE Partners may also help with capital, or with in-kind assistance, such as access to testing locations/facilities and supporting prize operations or teams.

You can see all active competitions on our Grand Challenges page. Competitions that are in the registration phase – or that allow late registration – are open for new competitors to join. Each prize webpage includes specific instructions and eligibility requirements for how to register, including any standards competitors must meet to enter the competitor pool.

Teams may consist of a single individual or multiple members. Individuals can also register their interest to join or form teams with others participating in the competition.

XPRIZE designs competitions around clear, ambitious outcomes that challenge innovators to deliver measurable breakthroughs. We pair rigorous evaluation with flexibility in how solutions emerge, enabling transformative ideas from any field to compete on equal ground.

XPRIZE competition Advisory Boards consist of prominent and knowledgeable experts dedicated to advancing the mission of their respective competitions. These boards bring diverse backgrounds and expertise to help shape the competition, establish credibility in the field, and expand the competition's ecosystem by attracting new competitors, sponsors, judges, and supporters.

The operations teams of each XPRIZE competition work closely with their respective Advisory Boards to find a diverse and independent pool of judges. XPRIZE judges are recognized experts in fields critical to the competition, selected for their objectivity and broad range of perspectives, ensuring that all evaluations are fair, evidence-based, and aligned with the competition’s stated criteria.

Judging panels work over the course of the entire competition, determining which teams advance through each round and ultimately which team(s), if any, is/are declared the grand prize winner(s).

Every XPRIZE competition has its own rigorous set of guidelines to determine the teams that proceed through each stage of the competition. The decision is ultimately made by the judges of a competition, who act as independent assessors over the course of a competition.

It is. For example, though no Grand Prize was awarded in the Google Lunar XPRIZE, the race sparked a global surge in investment and innovation. More than $420M flowed into competing teams, fueling new companies across India, Malaysia, Israel, and Hungary. These ventures went on to advance lunar landing technology, secure NASA contracts, and inspire STEM education initiatives worldwide – showing how the impact of an XPRIZE extends well beyond the purse or the finish line.

In 2024, the impact came full circle when Intuitive Machines - founded by former competitors - made history with its Odysseus lander, the first privately built spacecraft to touch down on the Moon, and the first U.S. lunar landing in more than 50 years.

The legacy of the prize is clear: chasing a moonshot can ignite entire industries, rewrite policy, and expand the frontier of what’s possible.

There are multiple ways to get involved with XPRIZE. 

You can donate to XPRIZE to help advance our mission of bold, impact-driven philanthropy.

To help shape the future of XPRIZE and competitions, you can become a Benefactor, sponsor a prize, or partner with XPRIZE on a current or future competition.

The XPRIZE Design Studio is an annual opportunity for anyone, anywhere, to share their vision for a potential prize competition at XPRIZE.

If you’re part of an academic institution looking to bring the XPRIZE model into your curriculum, get in touch with the XPRIZE Connect team. By blending creativity, digital fluency, and problem-solving, XPRIZE Connect students transform their visions into prototypes that tackle global challenges.