XPRIZE – Dr Roey Tzezana Develops Prizes To Radically Extend Human Lifespan

Ira Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador and founder of Bioquark, interviews Dr. Roey Tzezana, Futures Studies Researcher, Tel Aviv University, Research Fellow, Brown University, and Lead Researcher, XPRIZE Foundation.

Ira Pastor comments:

Today, we are going to continue upon a theme that we started several episodes ago, which explores how in this world with amazing pockets of wealth, do we make sure some of it (outside of traditional life science venture capital, PE model) begins to get appropriately channeled to support the next generation of breakthroughs in healthy longevity, so that all of us can benefit from the tremendous opportunities it has to offer.

An inducement prize contest (IPC) is a competition that awards a cash prize for the accomplishment of a feat, usually of engineering, and are typically designed to push the frontiers and extend the limits of human ability and can be extremely effective in pushing the advancement of technology.

Some of the most famous IPCs include the 1714–1765 longitude rewards, which were the system of inducement prizes offered by the British government for a simple method for the determination of a ship’s longitude at sea, and the Orteig Prize (1919–1927), funded by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig, to the first allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris.

IPCs are distinct from recognition prizes, such as the Nobel Prize, in that IPCs have prospectively defined criteria for what feat is to be achieved for winning the prize, while recognition prizes may be based on the beneficial effects of the feat.

The XPRIZE Foundation Pioneers Breakthroughs in Innovation

The XPRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological developments that could benefit humanity.

The XPRIZE Foundation mission is to bring about “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity” through incentivized competition.

It fosters high-profile competitions to motivate individuals, companies, and organizations, across all disciplines, to develop innovative ideas and technologies that help solve the grand challenges that restrict humanity’s progress.

As of January 2018, there are seven completed XPRIZE contests and eight active contests.

The Ansari XPRIZE for Suborbital Spaceflight was the first in 1996, which helped establish the model. Since then, new challenges have expanded into a range of other fields including Exploration (Space and Oceans), Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development, and the Life Sciences.

Recently, XPRIZE Foundation released the Future of Longevity Impact Roadmap, a digital report and interactive website that reveals 12 breakthroughs that can promote increased health and life expectancy for all.

Futurist Dr. Roey Tzezana Researches Human Longevity

Today we are joined by Dr. Roey Tzezana, a Futures Studies researcher at Tel Aviv University and a Research Fellow at Brown University.

With a PhD in Nanotechnology from Technion Israel Institute of Technology, he’s acting as lead researcher at the XPRIZE Foundation where he leads the research focused on human longevity, which should eventually, hopefully, lead to the development of treatments to stop and reverse aging.

Dr. Tzezana is also acting as a scientific consultant to several firms and international organizations, and is the author of several best-selling books about the future of technology and society including Guide to the Future, The Future Guide: The Technological Revolutions That Will Change Our Lives, and Governing the Future: Equity, Technology, Hope.

Dr. Tzezana has also co-founded the SimPolitix project for political forecasting, and TeleBuddy, a firm that operates tele-presence robots around the globe, allowing him to teach, lecture and live in three different continents at the same time, using robotic avatars as his bodies.

His research has led him to journey worldwide, from Kazakhstan to Latin America and even Antarctica, trying to understanding how technology will impact humanity and reshape our society and institutions.

On this show we will hear from Dr. Tzezana:

About his background, how he became interested in biology, in nanotechnology, and in futurism. His general views on emerging technologies and the future. Why such competition models are so crucial in “un-met” areas like healthy longevity research. About the history and design of the XPRIZE longevity model. The challenges and areas of longevity research he is most excited about.

Credits: Ira Pastor interview video, text, and audio.

Follow Ira Pastor on Twitter: @IraSamuelPastor

If you liked this interview, be sure to check out our interview about the $30 million global grand challenge in the longevity and healthy aging sector.

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