The idea of using a prize to solve a big problem goes back hundreds of years.  The British created a prize to solve the Longitude problem:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Longitude_Act" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Longitude_Act</a><p>Charles Lindbergh won his prize money for crossing the Atlantic:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Spirit_of_St._Louis" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Spirit_of_St._Louis</a><p>The Google autonomous car is here because of DARPA prize:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DARPA_Grand_Challenge" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DARPA_Grand_Challenge</a><p>Netflix has their contest: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Netflix_Prize" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Netflix_Prize</a><p>And of course, we have the modern X-Prizes:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.xprize.org" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.xprize.org</a><p>Anyway, the point is that we could solve a 1000 problems if we found the money for it. Prizes like these seem to be a very effective way to invest in R&amp;D.