Policy Leader of the Year: X Prize Foundation, Santa Monica, Calif.
The lure of multimillion-dollar prizes prompts inventors to pursue breakthroughs in space travel, DNA sequencing, automotive fuel efficiency, and robotics
In 1927 the aviation world marveled at Charles A. Lindbergh's nonstop flight from New York to Paris. Lindbergh was in it for more than thrills: he was after the $25,000 Orteig Prize. In a 21st-century encore, the 12-year-old nonprofit X Prize Foundation conceives and manages competitions for daring innovators.
