House Energy & Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Unanimously Approves Matsui's Spectrum Challenge Prize Legislation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: Lauren Dart House Energy andamp; Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Unanimously Approves Matsui's Spectrum Challenge Prize Legislation Today, the House Energy andamp; Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee unanimously passed Congresswoman Doris Matsui's (D-CA) Spectrum Challenge Prize Act. The bill encourages private sector innovation by awarding up to $5 million for breakthrough wireless technologies that dramatically improve spectrum efficiency. As evidenced by a recent federal spectrum license auction that generated over $40 billion in bids, spectrum has become an increasingly valuable resource in our modern mobile economy. The first-ever spectrum challenge competition would incentivize participants to advance technologies that maximizes the use of this finite resource. "Spectrum efficiency is key to our wireless economy's continued growth," said Congresswoman Matsui. "My Spectrum Prize bill would incentivize the development of technology that could lead to the next spectrum efficiency breakthrough, which is ultimately a win for American consumers. I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow Members of Congress to advance this innovative legislation." "We commend Representative Matsui and the Members of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee for their bipartisan effort to pass H.R. 4190, the Spectrum Challenge Prize Act," said Chris Frangione, Vice President of Prize Development for the XPRIZE Foundation. "Prizes can help government agencies of all sizes and missions crowdsource innovation and leverage the creativity of private citizens to solve our nation's most difficult challenges." The Spectrum Challenge Prize Act would instruct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in consultation with other federal partners, to award up to $5 million in prizes to participants who develop ground-breaking solutions to spectrum efficiency. In contrast to traditional research grants, the spectrum challenge prize maximizes the impact of federal investment by paying only for successful solutions, not research and development costs. Challenge prizes have a long track record of spurring innovation, from early navigation efforts to more recent driverless car technology. Prizes have been successfully implemented by several federal agencies in the past to incentivize technological innovation, and complement traditional research and development efforts by attracting a broad range of innovators to solving big problems. The text of the legislation can be found by clicking here. # # # |