ISSUE47: SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2007
network of research and training centres/programmes
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Cash prizes offered for
best ideas on cash prizes
UNU Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) and Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) have announced an open competition for best paper on the topic, Monetary Prizes to Stimulate Medical R&D.
The award is part of a joint initiative by the two organizations to promote open debate on innovative ways to reward successful investments in R&D and ensure that knowledge goods, which are both costly to create and potentially non-rival in use, can be shared freely.
The current approach to rewarding the development of new medicines or diagnostic devices has severe deficiencies. Patent enforced monopolies often lead to high prices and often fail to stimulate investment in areas of public interest and priority.
The prize system, on the other hand, is an incentive for innovation that can be divorced from the product's consumer price. New knowledge, including the R&D for a new medicine, can be placed in the public domain immediately so that competition among suppliers leads to low prices and greater access to new medical inventions. For donors and governments in particular, prizes might offer an alternative to marketing monopolies as the reward for successful investments in R&D.
UNU-MERIT and KEI are looking for the best ideas on the use of monetary prizes as an alternative mechanism to stimulate private investments in R&D. The competition is open to all and winners will be selected by a jury of high-profile experts. The author of the winning paper will receive €1,500 with two runner-up prizes of €500. The three top-ranked papers will be published in the Knowledge Ecology Studies journal. Deadline for contributions is February 15, 2008.
© 2007 United Nations University