$10 million prize focuses on algae-based fuels

A new prize is offering $10 million (US) for ground-breaking research and innovations in algae-based fuels.

The proposed prize is the work of Prize Capital LLC, which today announced the due diligence phase covering final planning, rules development and schedule for the awardfocused on spurring the development of radically advanced fuels from algae.

“From Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic to help launch the multibillion dollar aviation industry, to the Ansari X PRIZE’s launch of the space tourism industry, prize competitions have sparked creativity from around the world to accomplish what many believed impossible,” said Lee Stein, founder and chairman of Prize Capital. “Significant research is already underway on creating commercial fuels from algae. Prize Capital believes the power of a prize can stimulate additional research and focus world attention on the creation of truly sustainable and scalable renewable fuels to wean our world off its addiction to petroleum.”

Stein said Prize Capital believes the Algae Fuel Prize competition will provide incentives to determine which of the thousands of algae strains are best suited for absorbing energy and producing renewable fuels, where these strains work best, how to most effectively harvest algae, and how to most efficiently extract the plentiful oil from within algae’s cellular walls at sufficient scale, among other challenges.

“As experienced with previous competitions, the Algae Fuel Prize will focus minds from around the world to sort through these questions, generate breakthroughs in algae biotechnology, expand an emerging industry, create jobs, and improve the world in ways we may not have imagined,” he said. “This prize sets a major goal for the teams to pursue in the form of a $10 million check to the winner while providing the financial fuel to get them there faster.”