XPrize launches $5-million competition for a cheap, rapid COVID-19 tests

Further expanding the scope of its international competitions designed to solve global problems through technology, XPrize has launched a contest to develop new and improved testing methods for COVID-19. With millions of dollars of prize money up for grabs, the contest aims to usher in new technologies that allow for cheap, wide-spread testing with rapid results.

The XPrize Rapid Covid Testing competition is being held in collaboration with OpenCovidScreen, a non-profit organization working to improve testing technologies for the virus. The way these two see it, current testing for COVID-19 is expensive, invasive and slow, and is incompatible with the idea of reopening sections of society while the virus continues to circulate.

The competition involves US$5 million in prize money and is open to entrants all around the world. The winning teams will demonstrate COVID-19 tests that are “radically affordable” compared to today’s, and must be able to produce results from a sample within 12 hours. The sampling methods must be minimally invasive and cost less than $15 per test.

The winning teams will also need to deploy their technologies and carry out a minimum of 500 tests per week at a live testing site within 60 days. Registrations are open until August 31,2020, with the competition scheduled to take six months.