Prizes can’t solve – don’t incentivize rewards or innovation

Prizes and patent pools clearly have served and can operate as useful supplements to patents in certain narrow circumstances. They have and, no doubt, will continue to evolve and be improved over time. But they must be used on a supplementary and voluntary basis with terms and conditions that are clear and agreed to by all affected parties. By so tightly managing and controlling innovation outcomes, prizes and patent pools are unlikely to incentivize, reward, and deliver the breakthrough technologies, treatments, and inventions necessary to solve global environment, public health, and other challenges. Indeed, if prizes and patent pools were inherently superior to patents alone, they would have already delivered groundbreaking innovative medicines and commercially available environmental technologies. That they have not, despite long histories, widespread knowledge of their uses, and recent attempts, is perhaps the surest testament to their limitations.