Over the past four years, more than fifty federal agencies have engaged citizens in more than three hundred and fifty prize competitions, while private foundations have designed and launched numerous prizes to address a range of challenges, a report funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Case, Joyce, Knight, Kresge, and Rockefeller foundations finds.

Produced by Doblin, a division of Deloitte Consulting, the report, The Craft of Incentive Prize Design: Lessons From the Public Sector (88 pages, PDF), looks at how prizes are being used to tackle a variety of challenges, from strengthening communities, to encouraging more sustainable energy consumption, to cultivating efficiency solutions for city governments. The report characterizes six of the most important outcomes that prize designers try to achieve through the use of incentives: developing ideas, creating prototypes and launching pilots, stimulating markets, raising awareness, mobilizing action, and inspiring transformation.

In addition to highlighting the fundamental elements of successful prize design, the report provides practical guidance for prize designers aimed at helping them achieve the outcomes they desire.