Some problems are considered too difficult, too risky, or too early. That’s exactly where XPRIZE invites the world’s most innovative minds to play. We design every prize to take audacious ideas to real-world scale.
Our 2026 Impact Report follows that work further: from what teams developed and proved to how the world changed because of it.
New industries. New careers. New standards. Technologies reaching people who need them. These are the returns that matter.
Impact by the numbers
Every $1 in XPRIZE prize funding helps unlock an estimated $62 in social, environmental, and economic impact.
Across three decades, that adds up to an estimated $32.4 billion in measurable global impact.
This year, we followed alumni beyond the funding announcements to see what they’ve experienced post-competition.
- $12.83 billion raised by tracked teams during and after competing.
- 444% increase in capital raised compared with funding before competition.
- 84% still operating among 345 tracked teams whose competitions launched at least five years earlier, measured at the end of 2025.
- 31.9K jobs added by tracked XPRIZE alumni since competing.
- $1.58 billion in estimated annual wages associated with those additional jobs.
These figures show what XPRIZE competitions help set in motion—and what continues to grow long after.
Impact, by design
XPRIZE builds proof into every competition, giving decision-makers evidence of performance under real conditions to guide investment, adoption, and policy.
We measure that process across four pillars: innovation, technology readiness, awareness, and capital. Together, they help explain how a bold target becomes a solution others can fund, adopt, and scale.
Here are some proof points from the 2026 XPRIZE Impact Report:
- Carbon removal on working farms. XPRIZE Carbon Removal Grand Prize winner Mati Carbon worked with more than 30,000 smallholder farmers in 2025, putting its approach to work in agricultural communities.
- A standard on every new EV. The Progressive Automotive XPRIZE helped develop and champion MPGe, later adopted by the EPA. Today, it helps Americans compare the efficiency of every new electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid.
- Evidence behind alternative proteins. XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion developed a framework for evaluating meat alternatives against conventional products. Published in 2026, it gives researchers and producers an open-access standard to build on.
- Faster answers in cancer care. Rapid COVID Testing co-winner ChromaCode has applied its technology to lung cancer testing, cutting turnaround times to about five days from roughly ten for send-out sequencing.
- Learning at national scale. Malawi is scaling software from Global Learning XPRIZE co-winner one billion toward reaching 3.8 million children annually across all 6,000 public primary schools by 2029.
The Alumni Impact
Our engaged Alumni Network connects 770 teams and 1,780 individuals across 63 countries. More than 375 partners have contributed expertise, infrastructure, and resources to XPRIZE competitions since our founding. Each new prize builds on that shared capacity.
The 2026 Impact Report documents what this community has made possible—and invites you to help us build the next breakthrough.