XPRIZE, which works to leverage prize philanthropy to catalyze innovation, has announced the launch of a four-year competition that will award a total of $11 million to address destructive wildfire events.

XPRIZE Wildfire will award funding to competing teams around the globe in support of innovative technologies to end destructive wildfires. According to XPRIZE, the severity of extreme wildfire events, which spread at a faster rate and burn larger areas at higher intensities than typical wildfires, is increasing, accounting for more than 80 percent of fire-related damages globally and costing approximately $350 billion annually in the United States. However, fire management technologies have not evolved in decades, and best practices have not changed in almost a century.

The competition will incentivize teams to innovate across a wide range of technologies in two complementary tracks: the Space-Based Wildfire Detection and Intelligence track and the Autonomous Wildfire Response track. In addition, a $1 million Lockheed Martin Accurate Detection Intelligence Bonus Prize will be awarded for innovations in accurate and precise detection of wildfires.

The prize is offered in partnership with the Gordon and Betty Moore, Minderoo, and Conrad N. Hilton foundations; Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E); Lockheed Martin; and Nichola Eliovits and Michael Antonov.

“We have been fighting wildfires the same way for decades—it’s not working, and the destruction is getting increasingly worse. We need a radical re-invention of how we detect and battle these blazes,” said XPRIZE executive board chair Peter H. Diamandis. “The convergence of exponential technologies such as AI, robotics, drones, and sensors offer us the opportunity to detect wildfires at inception and put them out in minutes before they spread—that’s the mission of this XPRIZE.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Toa55)