We were very psyched to learn that Netflix this week awarded a $1 million prize to a team of people who invented an algorithm that delivers a 10% improvement in predicting what movies customers will want to see. This ends an open innovation competition that took three years, with 40,000 teams from 186 countries, to break the critical 10% hurdle.
Netflix has already announced a follow-up competition.
Meanwhile Dutch light-bulb maker Phillips may be the winner of a U.S. Department of Energy’s $10 million “L Prize” open innovation competition—yesterday it was the first entry in the government’s contest to invent a more efficient 60-watt bulb. To win, government testing will need to confirm that it meets some very strict criteria including:
- Reproduces the amount and color of light from a 60-watt incandescent bulb, while using only 10 watts of power
- Lasts 25,000 hours, which is ~25x longer than a standard bulb
- 75% or more of the bulb is made or assembled in the U.S.
- Free of the negatives of today’s compact fluorescent bulbs—ie: no polluting mercury
Looks like the Dutch may soon get credit for lighting up something other than, well, you know.
More importantly, there are many, many more such contests and prizes out there. So as you’re inventing, especially if you’re working in more advanced or eco-friendly spaces, definitely do your homework on the contests out there. Invention success is a great light at the end of the tunnel… but oh, how much sweeter it would be if you could win big prize money too.
Here are links to newspaper reporting on the Netflix competition and Phillips submission.