Image: X Prize Foundation

The organizers of X Prize have just announced their newest target: global education. For this new contest, each team must "develop open-source and scalable software that will enable children in developing countries to teach themselves basic reading, writing, and arithmetic," by two years from now.

X Prize competitions put forth multi-million-dollar prizes to encourage teams of engineers, designers, and dreamers to take on the big problems. Previous competitions have challenged their teams to build high-efficiency gas vehicles, personal spaceflight, and Star Trek-style medical tricorders. For the Global Learning X Prize, the foundation is offering $10 million for the winner and $1 million each for five runners-up.

In the announcement, X Prize CEO Peter Diamandis optimistically draws parallels between the promises this new contest holds for revolutionizing global education and how, a decade ago, the Ansari XPRIZE catalyzed the field of commercial spaceflight. "We will never build enough schools or train enough teachers to meet demand," Diamandis says, but the software developed during the competition will bring "quality learning experiences to children no matter where they live."

In the tradition of X Prize, the global learning contest is a big idea with its heart in the right place. However, it's worth pointing out that many populations without schools and teachers are also at a loss for other basic resources. Next-gen, auto-teaching software isn't much good to a child whose family can't afford a computer or the electricity to keep one charged. For most populations worldwide, the issues behind a lagging educational system are not just a lack of teachers and schools, but the absence of the stability that allow these systems to grow and flourish in the first place.

To really be effective, then, the Global Education X Prize must exist alongside efforts to raise the standard of living in developing countries. We hope it's a smashing success, and that the teams chasing the prize find innovative ways to tackle this enormous challenge.

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