The XPRIZE‘s mission is to make the impossible possible, as it did starting with the US$10,000,000 Ansari XPRIZE for private spaceflight awarded to Scaled Composites for SpaceShipOne in 2004. Since then, XPRIZE has continued to spur innovation in areas such as ultra-fuel efficient cars, oil-cleanup technology, as well as ways to return to the Moon, address ocean acidification, and revolutionize healthcare.

XPRIZE believes in tackling some of the world’s grandest challenges, and they have launched their newest XPRIZE challenge —

The Global Learning XPRIZE – Fully Funded!

The Global Learning XPRIZE is a $15 million competition to create open source software that will teach a child to read, write, and perform basic numeracy within 18 months without the aid of a teacher. This is not designed to replace teachers, but to provide an educational solution where little or none exists.

According to UNESCO figures, 250 million kids in the world today lack basic literacy skills. It would take 1.6 million additional teachers to bring these kids up to a standard level of proficiency. This XPRIZE could have a profound impact on these kids, plugging them in to the global conversation, helping to bring nations out of poverty and build a world of abundance. You can learn more at http://learning.xprize.org/

An important part of this XPRIZE is a crowdfunding campaign to raise an additional $500,000 that will increase the impact and success of the prize. This money will go towards additional testing of the finalist’s technologies with more kids in more villages and towns, building infrastructure to help teams collaborate effectively, and investing in an open technology platform for society that will live on long past the conclusion of this XPRIZE.

The crowdfunding campaign closed at midnight on November 6, 2014. Thanks to the support of the DeVos Family and the Roddenberry Foundation, we have reached 187% of our crowdfunding goal, raising a total of $937,316 towards the Global Learning XPRIZE!

More than 1,400 supporters from across 71 different countries joined in supporting the crowdfunding campaign, adding their support to that of people like Star Trek’s George Takei (GeorgeTakei), Sir Richard Branson (@RichardBranson), and Seth Green (@SethGreen):

Thank You Video from the XPrize Foundation

What Now?

If you are a developer, designer, teacher, translator, scientist, engineer, or advocate, join the Global Learning XPRIZE Forum to find/form a team or volunteer your skills and resources to this worthwhile project!

You are invited to the next Google Hangout at 10am Pacific on Tuesday, November 10. It is an opportunity for Q&A and focusing on what needs to be done as the teams move forward.

If you are wondering where the crowdfunding monies will be used, they will be directed to four key areas — facilitating wider testing with more kids in more towns and villages, helping the competing teams be successful, creating a global community, and creating an Open Source educational technology. Crowdfunding monies will not be used for any prize purse, XPRIZE staff salaries/offices, funding teams to do their work, or fundraising and events.

XPRIZE has supplied answers to some of the Frequently Asked Questions, but if you have any unanswered questions about the Global Learning XPRIZE, please don’t hesitate to contact me here on this site. I am working directly with XPRIZE on this project as an “XPRIZE Vanguard” and will be happy to assist. Thank you so much!

Follow #LearningPrize on Twitter.