Innovative funding for innovative ideas

The X PRIZE Foundation announced it will receive up to $5.5 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support its latest effort called Automotive X PRIZE.

With its goal to “bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity”, the prize is a nice initiative to put incentives on new entrepreneurs on this technology field – especially considering the low availability of Venture Capital resources during this economic hard times.

It remembers me of an AAAS conference in 2008, where Dr. Stephen A. Merrill, of The National Academies, showed the importance of X Prizes-like funding in promoting innovation.