In April 2007, Senators Bingaman (D-NM), Domenici (R-MM), Dorgan (D-SD), Lugar (R-IN), Akaka (D-HI), Murkowski (R-AK) and Craig (R-ID) introduced legislation dealing with energy efficiency. One section of the bill requires the United States Treasury to create a Bright Light Tomorrow permanent fund, without a fiscal year limitation, to finance prizes for energy efficient lamps. There are three specific prizes.
Representative Daniel Lungren (R-CA) has introduced HR 1451, the “New Options Petroleum Energy Conservation Act of 2007,” a bill that seeks to provide incentives to reduce dependence on foreign oil. It includes, among other things, a $1 billion prize the first U.S. car manufacturer to sell 60,000 midsized sedan automobiles that can travel 100 miles per gallon.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 9, 2007
The prize is not huge (5,000 Euros), but the purposes and winners are interesting. According to this account:
The city of Aachen and the district (Kreis) of Aachen have conferred the Aachen Innovation Prize jointly since the year 2000. From 1992 until 1999 it was granted by the city of Aachen alone under the name of the “City of Aachen Prize for Innovation and Technology”.
There are, it seems, twelve prizes and awards. Among the more interesting are these:
The MacRobert Award for Innovation in Engineering
The final text of the resolution is here:
http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA60/A60_64-en.pdf
Peter Pitts doesn’t like the KSR decision, and he also doesn’t like prizes. His recent Spectator article says:
DISTURBINGLY, SOME FOLKS ARE now advocating a “prize” system where there are no drug patents. Instead, the government would pay a drug maker a lump sum for its innovation, and then the new drug would immediately be placed in the public domain.
According to Thiru Balasubramaniam, the WHA has now adopted a resolution on the WHO’s Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. We are waiting for the official text. However, it seemed better than many had predicted earlier this week. The U.S., while not blocking the resolution, noted it did not join the consensus on the text. Now attentions will turn to the WHO’s next move, which will be the July draft of the global strategy and plan of action.
The Gotham Prize for cancer research tests the use of prizes to encourage more openness for cancer research. According to their web site:
Statement by Thiru Balasubramaniam on behalf of KEI, regarding the WHO IGWG resolution:
“The 60th World Health Assembly is taking another important step to change the way the WHO and Member States deal with innovation and access.
Prize4Life is an effort to accelerate treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It was created by 32 year old Avichai “Avi” Kremer. According to news reports Kremer was diagnosed with ALS in 2004, and has only a few years to live. He started Prize4Life to raise money for prizes to stimulation research.
Here are some extracts from this moving story in the March 28 issue of the Boston Globe: