The X PRIZE Foundation is best-known for the $10M competition that led to the 2004 flights of SpaceShip One. It's been exploring for some time what might be involved in developing a prize for better cars. We've had the opportunity to give our views and suggestions. For the Foundation, it's a challenge to balance ways in incentivize technology breakthroughs and steps to commercialization while providing popular entertainment.

We're delighted that the Foundation has now made its first public announcement of its intention to launch such a program. We have no more details than anyone else about what, how or when -- that will come from them! But we're hopeful that its structure and mechanism will in some way contribute to the efforts to motivate automakers to bring plug-in hybrid cars to market.

http://www.xprizefoundation.com/­news/­pr4_XPC_march6.asp?

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2006--The X PRIZE Foundation has announced that Mark Goodstein will join as Executive Director of a new prize that will inspire entrepreneurial innovation in the automotive industry.

"The X PRIZE is about changing paradigms," explains Goodstein. "The current paradigm is that it's perfectly acceptable to drive a car that only gets 20 or 30 miles per gallon. This prize is about leveraging cash and opportunity to effect positive change in the environment, economy and geopolitics."

Goodstein was a founder of GoTo.com, which became Overture Services and is now Yahoo's search marketing company. He helped define and launch this disruptive search engine company in 1996 creating $250 billion in market capitalization today.

"We are extremely excited to have Mark join X PRIZE," said Chairman and Founder Peter Diamandis. "His proven leadership skills and creative approach to problem solving will make for a very productive and exciting competition."

Most recently, he founded X1 Technologies in 2002, helping to spark the desktop search revolution. Along the way, X1 picked up awards and plaudits of all kinds, including the coveted Technical Excellence award from PC Magazine. He directed product and company strategy, and was responsible for Yahoo's licensing X1 as its desktop search product. He also started Intranets.com (purchased by WebEx) and Blackdart, an office supplies e-commerce company, and served as the general manager of a streaming media company called FasTV.

Goodstein has a degree in history from the University of Chicago.

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit organization. Its mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Based on the success of the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, the foundation is widely regarded as the leading prize management institute in the world. For more information please visit www.xprize.org.

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