Extreme Wildfires Are Increasing
Globally, we are seeing more wildfires that burn larger areas, with higher intensity, and spread out of control more quickly. These large and destructive fires lead to severe consequences—ranging from increasing economic burdens and loss of life and property, to the destruction of ecosystems. Imagine a world where humanity and fire can coexist in a sustainable and safe manner. A world where fires are detected quickly, with immediacy and precision, allowing for the safe management of environmentally beneficial fires and the rapid suppression of destructive ones.
“Peter Diamandis, a Greek American pioneer in innovation, is preparing to donate 11 million dollars through the nonprofit organization ‘XPRIZE’, the global leader in designing and operating competitions that provide incentives for solving humanity’s greatest challenges.”
This time, he has launched the XPRIZE Wildfire, a 4-year global competition that will award $11 million in prizes to competitive teams that innovate by providing technologies to end destructive wildfires.
The competition is structured around two key themes, which set short-term and long-term goals for addressing fundamental wildfire management issues. Through these themes, the XPRIZE Wildfire aims to transform how wildfires are managed and fought. Specifically:
- In the “Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence” theme (registration until August 31, 2023), teams will have one minute to accurately detect all fires in a landscape larger than the area of entire states or countries and 10 minutes to accurately characterize and report data with the fewest false positives to fire managers on the ground.
- In the “Autonomous Wildfire Mitigation” theme (registration until October 31, 2023), teams will need to monitor at least 1,000 km² and autonomously suppress a wildfire within 10 minutes of its detection.
- The $1 million “Lockheed Martin Accurate Detection Intelligence Bonus Prize” will be awarded for innovations in the precise detection of wildfires.
The $11 million prize will be distributed as follows:
$3.5 million per theme will be awarded to the team that takes first place in each theme (total $7 million).
$1.5 million per theme will be awarded to a team whose work is deemed by judges to be a “milestone” in advancing the competition’s goals (total $3 million).
$1 million will be awarded to one (or shared among several) team(s) whose work is judged to contribute to the correct, accurate, and immediate detection of wildfires.
How to Register a Team for the Competition: Registrations for XPRIZE Wildfire officially opened on April 21, 2023.
Interested teams are encouraged to read the Competition Guidelines:
There, you can find the competition’s goals, details about the two themes and their timelines, the process for registering a team, and the competition’s main objectives.
Competition Website: https://www.xprize.org/prizes/wildfire
Press Articles:
https://www.iefimerida.gr/kosmos/piter-diamantis-stoho-na-exafanisei-tis-pyrkagies
