Services
We help cities, counties, foundations, universities and federal teams design prize competitions that attract serious entrants, judge them fairly and end with solutions worth adopting.
A well-designed prize can bring you ideas a grant or RFP might never reach, from people you didn't know to ask. But attracting entries is only the beginning. The competition needs to produce something your organization can put to use.
Much of that is settled before launch. The problem statement shapes who shows up. The incentives, entry requirements and judging criteria shape what they build and how you decide whether it works.
Arclight designs those pieces with you, from testing whether a prize fits the problem to preparing the rules, judging materials and launch plan. We also help you define what happens after the award, including how a winning solution could move toward a pilot or adoption.
Based in Austin, we work with Texas cities and counties and with organizations across the country.
Including small and rural communities trying a prize for the first time.
A way to engage founders, startups and new ideas around a local problem.
Prize structures that connect funding to clearly defined goals and evidence of progress.
Student, research and startup competitions with clear expectations.
New approaches to care delivery, operations or community health.
Design support for prize competitions and challenge administrators.
01
A half-day working session with your team. We test whether your problem suits a prize, who might solve it, what success would look like and what a prize would ask of your staff and budget.
A clear go or no-go recommendation and a draft problem statement.
02
We assess the problem, likely solvers, incentives and risks, then recommend whether to run a prize, what kind and roughly what it would take.
A written case your leadership, board or council can act on.
03
We design the competition and put it in writing so your staff, legal counsel or prize administrator can review the materials and prepare to launch.
A complete design package for legal review and launch planning.
04
We help you choose the right mix of judges, set conflict-of-interest and scoring procedures, and prepare evaluators to apply the criteria consistently.
A shared scoring process and a documented basis for decisions.
05
We provide challenge design as a subcontractor, delivering guidelines, rules and judging materials under your brand and process.
Design capacity for prize administrators and prime contractors.
Need help with the broader strategy or stakeholder alignment around your challenge? See our Advisory & Challenge Design services.
Tell us the problem you're trying to solve, who you hope will solve it and any deadlines or budget limits.
Test the idea before you commit, through a workshop or feasibility memo, or an initial conversation if the answer is already clear.
We draft the problem statement, prize structure, phases, judging criteria, rules and outreach plan, and revise them with your team.
Your staff, counsel or administrator reviews the package, with a plan for running the competition and using the results.
Lance McNeill, Arclight's founder, is the author of Challenge US. His work brings together research on challenge prizes and experience in public-sector innovation, entrepreneurship and healthcare operations.
At the City of Austin's Office of Innovation, he helped design and implement open innovation initiatives, challenge-based programs and collaborative problem-solving frameworks across departments.
He holds a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and an MBA.
A challenge prize, also called a prize competition or innovation challenge, offers a reward for meeting a clearly defined goal. You set the problem, eligibility rules and judging criteria, then invite people to compete. The design can reward an idea, a prototype or a demonstrated result, depending on what you need.
Prizes are worth considering when you can define success clearly, when different people might solve the problem and when you're open to approaches you haven't thought of. A prize may be a poor fit when you already know the solution or need a vendor for ongoing service. Our workshop or feasibility memo helps you assess those choices before committing to a competition.
It depends on what you're asking entrants to do, how much time and money they will spend competing and what the solution is worth to you. Cash is only part of it. Recognition, pilot opportunities, mentoring and access to data or facilities can also matter. We recommend an amount and structure based on your problem and budget.
The rules need to make ownership and usage rights clear before anyone enters. Options include entrants keeping ownership, a license to use winning solutions or assignment of specified rights. We help you develop draft terms that fit your goals and the people you want to attract. Your legal counsel reviews and approves the final rules.
Our focus is design. We deliver problem statements, draft rules, judging materials and launch and outreach plans for your team or a prize administrator to review and use. We can also prepare your evaluators and provide design support as a subcontractor to an administrator or prime contractor.
That should be part of the design from the start. We help you identify who would evaluate a winning solution for a pilot or adoption, what evidence they would need and what resources or approvals may be required. An award does not guarantee a contract or implementation; the rules and outreach materials should make any next steps clear.
Tell us what you're working on. In an initial 20-minute call, we can discuss whether a challenge prize is worth exploring and what a design engagement would involve.