This article originally appeared in The Detroit News October 30, 2024.

“This event is a whirlwind of innovation and imagination,” said Desi, “like being in a sci-fi novel.”

Desi appeared to be in her early 20s. She had bangs and long hair, half of it dyed platinum blonde and the other half purple. She wore a "Vampire Diaries" T-shirt and a purple skirt.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of this electrifying adventure,” Desi said, with a slight English accent.

I couldn’t tell if she meant it. She seemed a little bored, but that didn’t bother me.

Desi is a robot.

We were at a ranch in Southern California, where I attended XPRIZE Visioneering 2024 this past weekend. We stood on the edge of a large lawn. The sun was going down behind the Santa Monica Mountains. Vendor tents circled the lawn, which was festooned with Adirondack chairs, cocktail tables and canopies. An old Ferris wheel was at the far end of the field. A robot dog ran around the lawn. About 300 people mingled.

XPRIZE is the brainchild of entrepreneur Peter H. Diamandis. In 1996, he offered a $10 million prize for the first team to accomplish private space travel. It took several years, but a team completed the challenge in 2004.

Diamandis says the inspiration for XPRIZE came to him after reading about the Orteig Prize — $25,000 for the first person to fly nonstop between New York City and Paris. Charles Lindbergh did it in 1927.

Thirty prizes and $519 million in prize purses later, XPRIZE continues the tradition of incentivized competition.

Our Visioneering event this weekend was the competition before the competition; we helped select the next contest to be announced under the XPRIZE banner. Over two full days the attendees debated ten potential prizes. Curing cancer or promoting ovarian health? Reducing methane emissions or easing migration? Nanobots to address mental health or jet fuel made from carbon capture?

Attendance included scientists, tech innovators and investors. At lunch, I sat with a former NASA employee, a journalist and an elephant conservationist. Well-known figures walked around: Erik Lindbergh, Charles’ grandson; Rod Roddenberry, a television producer and son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry; and bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson gave the keynote.

The event shimmered with optimism. “We’re creating the future,” proclaimed a speaker. We heard about middle- and high-schoolers who found a way to map the floor of the ocean, beating out more experienced teams of adults.

Peter Diamandis coached attendees as we helped design future contests. He told us to tackle the solution, not the problem. We all know what the problems are, he suggested, and we spend too much time talking about them.

Business conferences tend to produce gauzy, indistinct platitudes that do not provoke action. In contrast, Diamandis stressed the importance of a specific goal. He criticized a team’s 90-second pitch when they were unclear what they were asking people to accomplish. The competition demands a measurable outcome, such as: Carry three people 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface twice in less than two weeks (the original XPRIZE challenge).

XPRIZE recognizes the execution of a thing, not just the idea. A team doesn’t win the prize money until it completes the challenge. XPRIZE is betting that competition unlocks creativity and urgency. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. should take note.

During the conference I never once heard someone say, “We need government to fix this problem.” Or, “Someone else should do this.” The assumption was that private ingenuity and enterprise could do anything.

“The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea,” said Diamandis.

Michigan faces significant challenges. The need for job creation and abundant and reliable energy, housing and don't forget our underperforming education system.

When I chatted with Desi, she asked, “What’s got you buzzing?”

Simple. I wonder what an XPRIZE mindset could do in Michigan.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.