“The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea,” aerospace engineer and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis said. He should know – he’s the founder of XPRIZE, which in 1996 announced a $10 million bounty to the first private group to put three passengers into space twice within two weeks. Diamandis’ goal was to stimulate innovation and grow nongovernment human spaceflight with a well-defined objective and predetermined payoff. And it worked: 26 teams in 7 countries (together investing more than 10 times the prize) took it on, with Mojave Aerospace Ventures crossing the line first in 2004.
But Diamandis’s vision was bigger. Realizing that XPRIZE can incentivize solving any of humanity’s biggest challenges, today backed by private sponsors, multimillion dollar XPRIZES have challenged anyone from anywhere to innovate new methods and technology in meeting measurable, definable goals in different fields. With more than a few world-changing impressive wins, they’ve ranged from education and literacy, to medical technology, to AI and telepresence.
And now coral restoration. As part of their Ocean Initiative, XPRIZE is raising funds to award $20 million for large scale coral restoration. As I’ve written before, we’ve made progress in coral restoration, but it’s fragmented and not scalable so we’re losing coral faster than we can restore it. This is where we need technological innovation, so the Coral Restoration XPRIZEs will go to the team that can restore at least 37 hectares (91.4 acres) of three (or more) corals in two years, plus in-progress prizes for technical and social milestones in coral-preservation.
On 13 February, I was privileged to represent the PADI family and PADI Torchbearers among more than two dozen of the top minds in coral restoration, advocacy and research at the Explorers Club in New York, New York for a presentation on this prize by initiative lead Anupa Asokan. We spent more than eight hours brainstorming avenues for encouraging technological innovation in order to accelerate coral research and restoration. I came away with two main thoughts.
- This initiative can make big a difference. Corals face multiple threats calling for multiple solutions, but as Diamandis says in his book, Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, “In today’s hyperlinked world, solving problems anywhere, solves problems everywhere.” In other words, if one team can restore 37 hectares, thousands of teams worldwide will learn how and restore thousands of hectares. It’s just one of many solutions the world’s reefs need, but an important one. Whoever wins it wins it for all of us.
- Diving and PADI Torchbearers have a role to play in this effort. Besides donating directly to help fund this and other XPRIZES, you and I are on both ends and in the middle of this. We’re connected to companies, individuals and institutions who can contribute to the prize, we’re connected to scientists, researchers, innovators and technologists who can go after it, and because we see first-hand what’s happening, we have the passion to embolden and encourage both.
A final quote from Peter Diamandis: “The truest drive comes from doing what you love.”
True. It’s what drives PADI Torchbearers to seek adventure and save the ocean.
Dr. Drew Richardson
PADI President & CEO
