Launching the Longevity Prize
The Longevity Prize initiative is, at least initially, a collaboration between VitaDAO, Foresight Institute, and the Methuselah Foundation. They are trying a different approach to the proven format of research prizes, a step by step progression in which smaller prizes are won in the process of defining concrete goals in medicine and biotechnology that will later receive larger prizes. It is an interesting and novel idea, like much of what orbits VitaDAO. The only way to see how well any novel idea works is to give it a try!
The longevity ecosystem is growing rapidly. But the problem is vast and we're running out of time. The longevity prize encourages novel approaches for turning back our aging clocks. You may be familiar with standard prize models that set a fixed amount to target a specific scientific goal with exact criteria. Those are great! This prize series is different. Its aim is to generate an avalanche of proposals, experiments, and collaborations on undervalued areas. This can include smaller bets growing into larger sums, innovating with novel prize voting mechanisms, or even a series of workshops or hackathons to develop promising ideas. Common to all these prize experiments is their goal to support a growing longevity ecosystem, connecting those who generate proposals for progress with those who want to help execute them, and drive high-trust collaboration toward solving them.
We love to collaborate. The first round of $180k in prizes was fundraised through Gitcoin, supported by community members, whose donations were matched by VitaDAO, Vitalik Buterin, and Stefan George.Thank you for your generous support! If you have an idea for a prize you'd like to sponsor, we'd love to hear from you!
One key problem with the prize model is that academics and biotechs will only perform experiments when they have the money in the bank. That's why our first round of prizes will be given out for hypothesis generation to define the second round of larger prizes. We would like to hear from you: what is the most promising but under-appreciated area of geroscience and longevity biotechnology that we should pursue? Review the literature (and you're welcome to include your own unpublished data), explain why this area is undervalued, generate a hypothesis for making progress, and propose an experiment to further investigate this approach. The more concrete, e.g. including people, resources, and time required for next steps, the better.
Up to $20,000 will be offered in prizes for this round! Finalists will be invited to present their proposal to the judges. Excellent proposals will be moved to the next phase, where they will be eligible for follow-on funding. The prize deadline is the end of 2022.
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