PORTLAND, OREGON WASHINGTON, D.C. EUROPE The Roddenberry Prize A competition supporting those who boldly go toward innovative solutions to global problems
Why it matters The Roddenberry Foundation was founded in 2012 on the same ideals espoused in Gene Roddenberry s seminal Star Trek series: optimism, diversity, teamwork, and a belief that bold innovation can solve the most persistent human problems. To effectively pursue those ideals, though, the Foundation needed a network of innovators who shared them. We decided to go with Context Partners primarily because we felt like they would be true partners in this work. Lior Ipp, CEO The Roddenberry Foundation With the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek series approaching in 2016, the Foundation saw an opportunity to reach beyond the bounds of typical philanthropy with a prize that supports and celebrates bold innovators. Having already attempted a more traditional, X-Prize-styled competition with limited success, the Foundation turned to Context Partners to design a new prize from scratch, one that could realize these goals by leveraging the unique idealism of Gene Roddenberry s legacy. Clockwise from top: Fans at Star Trek: Mission New York; Rod and Heidi Roddenberry at the Star Trek 50th Anniversary gala; Gene Roddenberry embracing a his young son, Rod. CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 2
The prize The Roddenberry Prize was formally announced during a Star Trek 50th Anniversary gala hosted by the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, generating tremendous media buzz far beyond Star Trek enthusiasts. Besides making appeals to Star Trek fans, we also spent two months doing direct outreach to adjacent communities, including tech incubators and educational institutions the most promising sources of innovative projects fitting the prize criteria. Together, these efforts earned the prize website more than 1.2 million visits over the two-month application window many from outside the US and ultimately grew the Foundation s pipeline of potential grant recipients by over 700%. We can find solutions from around the world from folks who we wouldn t be able to find otherwise, partner with organizations that we ve always wanted to partner with and distribute the funds in an easy and straightforward way. We can accomplish a lot of the goals that we have as a foundation through this one mechanism. Lior Ipp, CEO The Roddenberry Foundation The Prize itself was structured to be as inclusive as possible, with a tiered award system and judging criteria embracing a range of categories, from environmental and energy science to health and human rights. This structure arose directly from Context Partners research efforts, which revealed a preference for broad-based collaborative efforts among the Foundation s network, rather than a more traditional, topically constrained, winner-take-all prize. CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 3
How it works A Context Partners prize is uniquely designed to increase engagement in an issue area, speed results and create a market to lower the cost of breakthrough innovations. While each prize-entrant path is customized to the community it STEP 1 Outreach and Launch STEP 2 Application and Vetting STEP 3 Judging and Winners Announcement serves, multiple points for engagement are included to maximize relationship building one of the key benefits of conducting a prize. Direct outreach and high-profile launch maximize visibility Outreach team contacts likely entrants directly. Launch coincides with Star Trek 50th anniversary celebration. Prize is open to all nationalities, individuals and organizations, in a variety of topics. Entrants submit applications online, and are screened for eligibility Interested groups apply through a dedicated website, describing their solution and its potential for global impact. Dedicated support staff ensure that applicants with fewer resources or less competition expertise are still able to participate. Entries are screened for eligibility, then evaluated for a short list for final judging. Judges select five winning entries based on innovation, expertise and impact A diverse panel of science, education and social innovation experts judge the shortlisted entries, looking for expertise, social impact and a diverse, global perspective. One overall winner receives $400,000 prize; four more receive Innovation awards of $150,000 each. CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 4
Why it s different Context Partners approach to prize design involves much more than announcing a challenge and launching a publicity campaign. To maximize community engagement and get the best possible entries, we take a unique approach that includes: Research and co-creation to dig up real human insights about the client and the participant network Identifying critical roles within the client s extended community, in order to organize them for maximum impact A long-term strategy for tapping the expertise of the network the prize creates through the entry process CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 5
Why it s different Insights Through conversations with stakeholders and time spent with Star Trek enthusiasts, Context Partners quickly realized that the typical highly focused, highly competitive prize would be antithetical to the optimism and open-minded collaborative spirit that defined the community. We also came to understand how tightknit and enthusiastic a network it was, offering a tremendous resource for getting the word out, even if the applications themselves ultimately came from beyond the Star Trek crowd. The challenge, then, was to inspire and motivate the enthusiast base, then spread this buzz and awareness to innovators who might not realize how aligned they already were with the Foundation s values. Roles While many philanthropic foundations focus primarily on directing grant money to non-profits, the Roddenberry Foundation was founded on a unique set of values that suggest a broader, more inclusive mission. The Foundation s emphasis on innovation and diversity meant that the Roddenberry Prize needed to explicitly invite participants from far outside the traditional nonprofit and philanthropic worlds: entrepreneurs, academic institutions and even motivated individuals. This intent formed the heart of Context Partners vision for the design of the Prize, and the ways in which it was publicized. Network For the Roddenberry Foundation, the Prize was more than just a way to support innovators. They also needed to build a more robust network of collaborators and allies for future projects. So the Prize was structured explicitly to strengthen ties between participants and the Foundation, and with each other even those who didn t ultimately win an award. Dedicated support staff during the application process ensured that entrants had a strongly positive experience, and developed a sense of community and possibility, which was further supported through continued outreach after the winners were announced. CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 6
Winners Team Opus 12 USA Cancer Cell Map Initiative USA Smartstones USA FarmDrive Kenya FastOx USA, Mexico Grand Prize Winner Innovation Award Winner Innovation Award Winner Innovation Award Winner Innovation Award Winner Topic Energy and environment Medical Communication Financial services Energy and environment Innovation Converting industrial CO2 emissions into valuable fuels and chemicals Mapping cancer cells to speed the search for better treatment Creating new ways for nonverbal people to communicate Providing new, mobile-based credit models for farmers Turning waste into energy, at scale CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 7
Partners Prize research, design and administration Context Partners is a new type of design firm that focuses on relationships at scale. We create strategies that empower people, grow organizations and make lives better. In the face of a changing world, where identity, information and power are shifting rapidly, traditional engagement models are no longer enough. Formerly passive audiences are coalescing into powerful, vocal communities. We believe that the organizations that will shape the future are those that learn to build, navigate and leverage their relationships into a lasting resource. Through network strategies and prize design, we help get them there. Client In the 1960s, at a time of civil unrest and social change, Gene Roddenberry s Star Trek offered a vision for a future where diversity and tolerance were encouraged and in which inclusivity and equality were the norm. In the future, the human potential to be remarkable yielded a better, fairer world a world with no hunger, poverty, prejudice or greed. The Roddenberry Foundation is committed to advancing Gene s faith in humanity by finding and supporting remarkable people and organizations who can disrupt existing dynamics, challenge old patterns of thought and discover new ways to help us move towards a better future. Established in 2010 by Gene s son Rod, the Foundation builds on his father s legacy and philosophy of inclusion, diversity and respect for life, to drive social change and improve the lives of people around the world. CONTEXT PARTNERS // The Roddenberry Prize 8