> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Creating an incentive - URL: https://www.smdp.com/creating-an-incentive/ - Published: 2008-03-10T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T18:51:12.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: local, Downtown, #archive-import *Prize Capital joins SM-based X-PRIZE in creating contest* *By DAILY PRESS STAFF* DOWNTOWN Prize Capital, LLC this week announced the planning phase for a $10 million “Biofuels Prize” in coordination with the Santa Monica-based X PRIZE Foundation to spur the creation of a new technology that is energy and cost-efficient, sustainable, versatile, easy to scale and decentralized. Lee Stein, founder and chairman of Prize Capital, introduced the prize plan-ning phase at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC). The new mechanism for generating innovation and financing for energy and the environment is the first of several Earth 2.0SM programs planned by Prize Capital. “Current biofuel technology is not fully sustainable, competes with food crops and doesn’t work on a decentralized small scale for local communities,” Stein said. “Instead, the Biofuels Prize will spur the creation of new small-scale production systems that can be placed in villages and towns anywhere in the world where non-food crops can be grown and converted to biofuels. “Innovation can come from all corners of the world but people need capital and motivation, which is at the heart of the Prize Capital model and the Biofuels Prize.” Stein said traditional funding mechanisms are not designed to empower the vast numbers of people in developing countries who just might have solutions, but are often not in a position to express their opinions to the outside world. “Our prize, capital and partnerships approach aims to catalyze innovation and provide the capital to bring it to the world,” Stein said. “We believe the Biofuels Prize will benefit the environment, the economy, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators everywhere.” The $10 million prize purse will be awarded to the team that wins a series of challenges designed to test efficiency, scala-bility and sustainability of new biofuel liquid transport technology. To finance the Biofuels Prize and other prizes, Prize Capital will be creating a series of investment funds to provide capital for select contestants. For investors, this reduces the risk of having to seek out suitable investment candidates. The power of prizes to induce new development is well proven. History is replete with examples. Pilot Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic Ocean to win a prize and his success launched the multi-billion dollar aviation industry. More recently, the Ansari X PRIZE, a competition created by the X PRIZE Foundation, resulted in the first private manned rocket ship to reach outer space, a feat previously considered impossible. The achievement is launching space tourism and advancing the use of small space craft for other military and civilian uses. “We are very pleased to be the planning partner with Prize Capital,” Jesse Berst, executive director of energy and environment at the X PRIZE Foundation.“Prizes are inducements to drive innovators toward specific results. The Biofuels Prize will have clearly defined outcomes determined by Prize Capital and the X PRIZE Foundation, with further input from outside experts and advisors. We look forward to leveraging prizes, capital and innovation to help solve environmental challenges worldwide and help reverse global environmental decline.” Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said he was pleased that Prize Capital had chosen to announce the planning phase of their prize at WIREC. “The renewable energy industry is poised to generate remarkable breakthroughs in how we deliver and use energy. New technology development needs investment to create successful products that can be used anywhere in the world,” Eckert said. “The Biofuels Prize is a wonderful vision to inspire entrepreneurial spirit and innovation around the world.” The Prize Capital mechanism is also a key part of the Earth Fund, a newly created partnership of the Global Environment Facility and IFC to support market-based solutions for environmental problems in the developing world. The Biofuels Prize’s potential impact on fuel prices could be significant. Capacity can be added rapidly with the decentralized and small scale approach. This is the ultimate grassroots approach to reversing global environmental decline while creating economic benefits down to the village level, Stein said. “There are no boundaries or borders on innovation,” Stein added. “We want the world involved in the search for breakthroughs in the biofuels industry.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 10, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031008.pdf?ref=smdp.com)