The Uplift Prize Hopes To Advance Self-Replication

A crowdfunding campaign is attempting to raise funds for an innovation award focused on self-replication using 3D printing. 

This award is organized by HumanityPlus, who sponsor a series of prizes related to the idea of lifting people from poverty. The six-year old, non-profit organization’s prize is fully titled, the “Innovation Prize in Self-Replicating 3D Printing for Highly Amplified Poverty Reduction”, which explains much about their purpose. 

It may sound ambitious to raise funds for such a venture, but this group has done it before, having awarded the “Interim Personal Manufacturing Prize” USD$20,000 prize in 2013 to Quentin Harley for his “RepRap Morgan” 3D printer design. Now they’re hoping to raise funds for a more ambitious “Grand Personal Manufacturing Prize” prize of USD$80,000. 

It may seem slightly suspicious to be raising funds publicly for such an award, but evidently this is entirely a charitable operation, with the organizers stating that: 

We emphasize again that other than Indiegogo fees, all net contributions go directly to the prize.  There is no overhead expense incurred by the Uplift Prize itself, as everyone involved is strictly an unpaid volunteer.

Also, donations are tax deductible, at least in some jurisdictions. 

Currently the plan is to award the winner at the end of this year, but they say they may delay the process up to six months to receive more entries. 

If you’re interested in contributing to the Uplift Prize, hit the link below. On the other hand, perhaps you’d like to enter the contest if you feel you’ve developed self-replication technology of an appropriate nature; if so you can find out more at the Humanity+ site. 

Via Indiegogo and Humanity+