William Pomerantz reports on a panel he was on concerning nonotechnology and government prizes. Here's more about the panel at Nanowerk. Will's talk compared government prize like the NASA Centennial Challenges and DARPA's Challenges. The problem with getting any funding at all to keep making progress with Centennial Challenges is mentioned.
One bill that's discussed in the post is the Reward Innovation in America Act sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor.