School of Public Policy doctoral candidate, Luciano Kay, has won a research grant from the IBM Center for The Business of Government for a project Managing Innovation Inducement Prizes in Government. Kay has the distinction of being the only student among the group of professionals or professors who were awarded funding.

Kay's study summary: This report will offer practical insights and recommendations for design, implementation, management, and oversight of innovation inducement prizes sponsored or organized by government agencies for technology procurement or mission achievement, among other goals. The report will be based on findings and lessons learned from an ongoing doctoral dissertation project that investigates how prize competitions induce innovation by studying cases of prize competitions in the aerospace technology sector. The report will discuss how different aspects of prize design may lead to particular outcomes and more efficient prize-based public programs operation, and provides advice on how to evaluate those programs as well.