The Oscars. The Booker prize. The Nobels. The award ceremonies that punctuate our yr are all inherently backward-looking, celebrating previous achievements. However there may be one other sort of award, one that appears to the longer term – the problem prize. Such prizes don’t recognise previous successes, quite incentivise future ones.

The thought is straightforward: a problem is chosen – with a clear-cut goal – and a jackpot is obtainable to whoever first reaches that aim. Examples embody the Longitude Prize on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), which has…