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OPPORTUNITIES

XPRIZE Rainforest

The $10M XPRIZE Rainforest is a five-year competition. The winning team will develop novel technologies to rapidly and comprehensively survey rainforest biodiversity and use that data to improve our understanding of this complex ecosystem.

Opportunity Details

When

Registration Opens

01/11/2019

Registration Closes

15/03/2021

Award

$5m first prize. Early registration closes 15th Oct 2020 ($500 entry fee), with late registration until 15th Mar 2021 ($1000 entry fee).

Organisation

XPrize

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The XPRIZE Rainforest will accelerate the innovation of autonomous technologies needed for biodiversity assessment and will enhance our understanding of rainforest ecosystems by using rapid data integration to provide new wisdom about the forest as well as inspire new investment and exploration. The XPRIZE Rainforest will reveal the true potential of the standing forest, accelerating the development of new, just, and sustainable bioeconomies.

THE GRAND CHALLENGE

Rainforests cover less than 10% of the earth’s land surface, but they house approximately 50 million inhabitants and over 50% of the planet’s biodiversity. Although they are the most biodiverse ecosystems, there is a limited knowledge of everything that lives in these iconic environments. The value of the standing trees are not fully understood and our ability to assess this value is restricted because the rainforest environment is dense, vast, and complex.
The winning team will develop novel technologies to rapidly and comprehensively survey rainforest biodiversity and use that data to improve our understanding of this complex ecosystem.
Teams that register on or before 18:59:59 UTC on 15 October 2020 (Early Registration) will be required to pay a registration fee of $500 USD. Teams that register after that date and time and up until 18:59:59 UTC on 15 March 2021 (Regular Registration) will be required to pay a registration fee of $1,000 USD. XPRIZE has sole discretion to register and qualify additional teams between 16 March 2021 and 15 June 2022 (Discretionary Late Registration). Teams that register during this period must meet all the initial requirements and pay a late registration fee of $1,500 USD.

The winning team will develop novel technologies to rapidly and comprehensively survey rainforest biodiversity and use that data to improve our understanding of this complex ecosystem.

The winning team will have to survey the most biodiversity in at least three stories of a rainforest (emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor) in 8 hours and use that data to produce the greatest number of new insights after 48 hours that will reveal the true potential of the standing forest. (Insights are a new understanding of the ecosystem and may include, but are not limited to, new ecological dependencies, biodiversity, climate connectivity, anthropological findings, undiscovered threats or even sustainable societal interactions with the forest.) Teams will be evaluated based on their engagement with indigenous or local communities within a rainforest, or an academic institution from one or more of the countries that contain a rainforest. Engagement may include participation as a team member, team advisor, team collaborator, etc. We will also encourage teams to compete from local rainforest communities.

PRIZE PURSE

There will be $10 million (USD) in total prize purses available.

FINALS PRIZE PURSE
There will be a Finals Prize Purse in the amount of $7,500,000 (Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand USD). The Finals Prize Purse will be divided among the top-ranking Teams as First, Second, and Third Place Awards.

● First Place: $5,000,000 (Five Million USD)
● Second Place: $2,000,000 (Two Million USD)
● Third Place: $500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand USD)

There will be a Bonus Prize Purse in the amount of $250,000 (Two Hundred Fifty Thousand USD). that may be awarded at the Judging Panel’s discretion to one or more Finalist Teams whose Solutions demonstrate groundbreaking achievements.

There will be $2,000,000 (Two Million USD) to be shared equally among all Teams (up to 10) selected as Finalists.

There will be $250,000 (Two Hundred Fifty Thousand USD) to be shared equally among all Teams (up to 25) selected as Semifinalists.

COMPETITION INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:

  • Competition Guidelines (PDF): The Guidelines describe the requirements and parameters of the competition.
  • Competitor Agreement (PDF): Legally binding contract that contains the requirements of the competition. This document represents V1.0 of the Rainforest XPRIZE Competitor Agreement for all teams to view. This is only a preliminary version of the Competitors Agreement and is for your immediate reference only. This is not the complete and final version. There will be a final version posted at a later date that will require all team leaders to sign to proceed in the Competition.
  • Rules and Regulations: Document detailing the testing protocols, specific rules, dates/times, and other details that will govern the competition and will be binding on teams.

Timeline (subject to change):

Q4 2020 Draft Rules and Regulations Released

October 15, 2020 Early Registration Deadline

March 15, 2021 Regular Registration Deadline and Qualifying Round Begins

Q2 2021 In-Person Team Summit

May 13, 2021 Qualifying Submission and Competitor Agreement Deadline

Q3 2021 Qualified Teams Announced (up to 50 teams)

Q3 2021– Q2 2022 Qualified Teams Solution Development

Q2 2022 Discretionary Late Registration Closes and Semifinal Submission Deadline

Q3 2022 Semifinalist Teams Announced (up to 25 teams)

Q3 2022 – Q1 2023 Semifinalist Teams Solution Development

Q1 2023 Semifinal Team Verification

Q1 2023 – Q2 2023 Semifinal Testing and Judging

Q2 2023 Finalist Teams Announced (up to 10 teams)

Q2 2023 – Q2 2024 Finalist Teams Solution Development

Q2 2024 Final Team Verification

Q3 2024 Finals Testing and Judging

Q3 2024 Final Award Ceremony and Winners Announced

Q3 2024 – Q4 2025 Scaling Impact

Find out more and apply
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