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Accelerating innovation with prize rewards: History and typology of technology prizes and a new contest design for innovation in African agriculture

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  • Masters, William A.
  • Delbecq, Benoit

Abstract

"This paper describes how governments and philanthropic donors could drive innovation through a new kind of technology contest. We begin by reviewing the history of technology prizes, which operate alongside private intellectual property rights and public R&D to accelerate and guide productivity growth towards otherwise-neglected social goals. Proportional “prize rewards” would modify the traditional winner-take-all approach, by dividing available funds among multiple winners in proportion to measured achievement. This approach would provide a royalty-like payment for incremental success. The paper provides concludes with a specific example for how such prizes could be implemented to reward and help scale up successful innovations in African agriculture, through payments to innovators in proportion to the value created by their technologies after adoption. " from authors' abstract

Suggested Citation

  • Masters, William A. & Delbecq, Benoit, 2008. "Accelerating innovation with prize rewards: History and typology of technology prizes and a new contest design for innovation in African agriculture," IFPRI discussion papers 835, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:835
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Liam Brunt & Josh Lerner & Tom Nicholas, 2012. "Inducement Prizes and Innovation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 657-696, December.
    4. Masters, William J., 2003. "Research Prizes: A Mechanism To Reward Innovation In African Agriculture," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22162, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Michael Kremer, 1998. "Patent Buyouts: A Mechanism for Encouraging Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1137-1167.
    6. Newell, Richard & Wilson, Nathan, 2005. "Technology Prizes for Climate Change Mitigation," RFF Working Paper Series dp-05-33, Resources for the Future.
    7. Kremer, Michael & Zwane, Alix Peterson, 2005. "Encouraging Private Sector Research for Tropical Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 87-105, January.
    8. Wright, Brian Davern, 1983. "The Economics of Invention Incentives: Patents, Prizes, and Research Contracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(4), pages 691-707, September.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Justice A. Tambo, 2018. "Recognizing farmer-generated innovations through contests: insights from four African countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(5), pages 1237-1250, October.
    2. Manheim, David & Foster, Derek, 2020. "Option-based guarantees to accelerate urgent, high risk vaccines: a new market-shaping approach," OSF Preprints swd4a, Center for Open Science.
    3. Klemperer, Paul, 2009. "What is the Top Priority on Climate Change?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7141, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Geoffrey Barrows, 2018. "Do Entrepreneurship Policies Work? Evidence From 460 Start-Up Program Competitions Across the Globe," Policy Papers 2018.02, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    5. Faravelli, Marco & Stanca, Luca, 2012. "When less is more: Rationing and rent dissipation in stochastic contests," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 170-183.
    6. Meng Wei Chen & Yu Chen & Zhen-Hua Wu & Ningru Zhao, 2018. "Government Intervention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship," Graz Economics Papers 2018-15, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    7. Jörg Haller & Angelika Bullinger & Kathrin Möslein, 2011. "Innovation Contests," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 3(2), pages 103-106, April.

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    Keywords

    Productivity growth; Technology adoption; intellectual property; Agricultural R&D; Innovation;
    All these keywords.

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