Page 18: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2012)

Industrial disaster is often the impetus for innovation, and the maritime world is no exception. Last year, in the wake of one of the worst oil pollution disasters in history, the X-Prize Foundation and Wendy Schmidt stepped up to fund a $1.4m competition to find a more efficient means to clean oil. ? By Greg Trauthwein, Editor Last year in a high-profile ceremony in New York City, the X Prize Foundation announced the winners of the $1.4 million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHAL- LENGE. Two teams Elastec/American Marine from Illinois, the Grand Prize ($1m) winner, and the second place ($300,000) team, NOFI from Tromsø, Norway, innovated and outperformed more than 350 entry sub- missions from around the world, far exceeding the rigor- ous standards outlined in the competition. (*Note: The third-place ($100,000) prize was not awarded, as none of the other finalist teams met the baseline requirements) The X Prize Foundation is a non-profit organization with the lofty ambition to help solve the world's engi- neering challenges by creating and managing large-scale, global incentivized competitions. In this competition, the Deepwater Horizon blowout and resulting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico led the foundation and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt ? who personally funded the prize purse ? to create the $1.4m Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE. This competition in particular highlights not only the drive for prize money, rather the true innovation that emanates from academia, as well as the halls of corpora- 18MTRJanuary/February 2012 ?X?Marks the Spot (Oil Spill Clean Up) MTR#1 (18-33):MTR Layouts 1/3/2012 9:45 AM Page 18