We are excited to announce that the competition guidelines for the Rainforest XPRIZE have been revised and updated, as of April 22, 2020. Since the prize initially launched in November, teams from over 40 countries have shown great interest in this competition. During the Public Comment period, the public reached out to us at XPRIZE with intriguing questions and valuable feedback. This feedback is one of the contributing factors to updating the guidelines to the prize, and we are grateful to have a community who is just as passionate about this project as we are.

You can find the updated guidelines for the competition here, including miscellaneous changes that address the suggestions, questions, and feedback from the community. The main changes include:

• Prize purse structure
• Bonus Prize details
• Timeline 
• Testing criteria
• Glossary

Another factor that has influenced these changes is the workshopping we have done as a team to ensure the guidelines address the questions and concerns of the community. We are proud to announce that 2 rainforest experts have joined the team and have provided their vast experience and knowledge in this field to help assemble, revise, and strengthen these guidelines. 

Peter Houlihan joins the team as Technical Lead, Rainforest XPRIZE. He is a tropical ecologist and conservation scientist who specializes in planning and leading expeditions into understudied and threatened rainforests for conservation. Peter regularly works in over 20 countries around the world, and with local scientists to inspire and empower these communities to learn more about the natural world. Peter uses his skills as a photographer and videographer to fuse conservation science with high-impact media to inform broad international audiences about our planet. Click here to learn more about Peter and his work. 

Shah Selbe joins the team as Technical Consultant, Rainforest XPRIZE. He is an engineer, conservation technologist, former judge for the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, the founder of Conservify, and a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow. Shah has worked to identify and understand conservation challenges around the globe and deploy technologies to empower communities to help change the planet’s future. Click here to learn more about Shah and his work. 

Lastly, another contributing factor to the guideline updates is the COVID-19 Pandemic and its repercussions on our society. Many conferences and events were scheduled to take place surrounding the Rainforest XPRIZE team recruitment phase, which has been subsequently postponed. This societal shift has required us to revise the timeline in order to accommodate these events and conferences for the future. The new date for early registration has been changed to October 15, 2020, and the new regular registration deadline is March 15, 2021. 

We encourage you to visit the RAINFOREST XPRIZE page to learn more about these changes, and how you can get involved. Also, make sure to check out our new video below and share it with others.