Challenges and a Strong Affirmation

Participants showed a lot of enthusiasm for exploring prizes, challenges and open grantmaking on the Federal level and beyond. There were also many questions from agency personnel on how best to move forward and what kind of support they might expect. A number of attendees articulated challenges that they expected to face as they brought this work into their own agencies. Key challenges included:

  • Authority: There is no cross-agency authority for prizes and competitions.
  • Intellectual property: In the case of new technical solutions, who will own the intellectual property? How will this be delineated?
  • Embracing failure: Some initiatives may fail. How will we handle this?
  • Promoting change within: For many offices, using prizes and awards to further policy goals is an uncomfortable idea. How will we drive this change internally?
  • Administration: How will we ensure we have the capacity to administer this competition?

These and other questions will need to be worked through within each agency. Mindful of this, senior administration officials were unanimous in urging deliberate action and pledging a support framework. Tom Kalil, Deputy Director White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, put it this way:

I hope everyone who is here from the Federal Departments and Agencies will come away from this with a renewed sense that this is an important tool, that you will go back and talk to 5-10 of your colleagues to get them excited about this...

He also goes on to say, "... and that if you run into people who say no you can't do this, show them the OMB memo, show them that this is in the President's Innovation Strategy, and know that you have not just permission to do this, but a strong affirmation from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, from the National Economic Council, [and]... from the OMB General Counsel's Office... who has been an invaluable partner in identifying and addressing some of the legal challenges... I want you to know that we are really prepared to be your advocate as you come up with great ideas and encounter what I am sure will be one or two challenges that you will have to overcome internally to move these ideas to fruition."