Prize challenges are a form of crowdsourcing that use competitions with prizes (e.g. monetary, recognition, access, etc.) to incent broad or targeted participation in helping to solve particular problems. Prize challenges can be used in a broad range of disciplines (e.g. technical, scientific, policy) and can vary in terms of their scope. Prize challenges are a tried and true method tied to a history of breakthrough developments spanning several centuries including accurate marine navigation (1765) and the first non-stop transatlantic flight (1927).

Today, prize challenges are commonly found on web-based platforms; these platforms may be custom-built (e.g. Challenge.gov) or publicly available (e.g. Nasa partnership with Freelancer). Prize challenges can target individuals or groups of people to collaborate.

• Clarity of evaluation criteria
• Availability of a “solver community” and means of engaging them via new or existing platform
• Attractiveness of the incentive structure to potential participants (e.g. type and size of prize) in relation to ‘the ask’;

Ability to effectively stage gate the competition to reward or remove participants from the process based on their performance;

Availability of internal resources to support the challenge (e.g. administrative support, communications, innovation management, etc.)

Ability to partner with or hire outside the organization to ensure success at any/all stages of the process.