Using challenge funding to achieve innovation in public health

As program budgets face increased scrutiny and cuts, public sector organizations are exploring innovative methods of using funding to achieve outcomes. Competitions have been part of innovation in the last three hundred years. They have continued to grow in the past several years in both the private sector and the public sector, and are used to motivate individuals or groups to solve a problem that does yet have a clear solution. Challenges can include either monetary or non-monetary prizes. This represents a dramatic shift in funders’ attitudes towards risk, and presents exciting opportunities for innovation. The opportunities for public health are clear: these methods offer a new way to identify what works, scale leading practices and innovations, and affect change on a broad scale. For example, such challenges are being used to develop new technologies for diagnostics and treatment in resource limited settings or encourage researches to address specific topics. While many agree that competitions are effective in achieving outcomes, there are concerns that need to be addressed to facilitate success. While challenge prizes are not the solution to every public health issue, they do offer potential for exploration and have demonstrated an ability to deliver results. If public health can successfully capitalize on challenges beyond basic ones, it can produce more comprehensive results by developing ideas, scaling innovations, and creating ways to solve complex problems.