Major Innovation Prize Conference - i2i (incentive2innovate)

X PRIZE Foundation and BT Global Services to Host Innovation Conference at the United Nations in June - X PRIZE Foundation press release:

With the world facing major challenges everywhere we look – from the economy to energy and healthcare to national security and climate change – there’s an urgent need to develop cost-effective and powerful systems to drive innovative solutions. With this in mind, The X PRIZE Foundation – in close collaboration with BT Global Services, the United Nations and the John Templeton Foundation – is presenting a first-of-its-kind Incentive 2 Innovate (i2i) conference to highlight two powerful, yet underutilized tools: OPEN COLLABORATION and INCENTIVIZED COMPETITION. ...

Here's the conference web site: incentive2innovate. The conference covers the innovation prize model and related innovation practices like open source and crowdsourcing. It includes track on healthcare, energy and environment, and global development, and also includes lots of material that isn't specific to 1 field or industry. It also includes many people and organizations covered on this blog: the X PRIZE Foundation and their partners, Innocentive, Cisco, the Freedom Prize, Changemakers ... and many I've never covered. Here's a sample of the speakers. For the space readers, note that Steve Isakowitz is in the "rumor mill list" of potential next NASA Administrators.

THOMAS KALIL - The White House - LUNCH KEYNOTE - The Power of Politics & Prizes - Governments are beginning to revisit the prize incentive model to find new ways to solve major problems within their communities and across borders. Mr. Kalil will discuss the government’s current and future use of prizes as a tool for addressing the grand challenges of the 21st century.

STEVE ISAKOWITZ - Chief Financial Officer United States Department of Energy - With massive efforts to revive the economy and address urgent energy policies, the new White House is looking to the Department of Energy to play a central role in kick starting an energy revolution.

DR. ANTHONY J. TETHER - Former Director Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA) - Dr. Tether, Former Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), headed the DARPA Grand Challenge that led to the development of an autonomous ground vehicle. 35 teams were invited to the National Qualification Event, a rigorous eight-day vehicle testing period. This event was truly groundbreaking because for the first time autonomous vehicles were interacting with both manned and unmanned vehicle traffic in an urban environment.

PETER H. DIAMANDIS, M.D. - Chairman & CEO X PRIZE Foundation - Dr. Diamandis will show how the X PRIZE Foundation uses prize philanthropy to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Dr. Diamandis will share how the $10 Million Ansari X PRIZE drove $100 Million in team expenditures and launched a $1 Billion industry.