The last few hours of open registration for the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE are coming to a close. This past week has been an absolute firestorm of phone calls, emails, and overnight packages. The flood of correspondence this week required that three of us dedicate ourselves full time to dealing with potential applicants. While we anticipated that there would be a number of last minute entries, I can honestly say that nothing could have prepared us for the overwhelming response that we received.
I cannot immediately provide an actual accounting of the number of applications that we received this week. I can say that it easily exceeds 50. Add these applications to the almost 40 Registered Teams that have previously been reviewed and accepted, and you can imagine that we are looking at a very compelling year to come. Not all of the new applicants will be accepted as a Registered Team. However, from the initial reviews, we anticipate having a very strong starting line up as we move to the next phase of the competition.
Over the next few weeks, we will be working to document every application and follow up with questions before we submit the applications for review. Once the review process is complete, we will advise the accepted Registered Teams of their status. And then, we will introduce these teams to the public. This next week, we will begin to gain perspective on how long this process will take and we will do our best to share up-to-the-minute information.
Personally, this day is bittersweet. I began working for the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE the week that the Letter of Intent program opened -- almost two years ago. During this time, I have had the opportunity to get to know some wonderful people in the pool of LOI Contenders. Some of these Contenders are not able to take the next step to becoming a Registered Team. I do hope that we have not seen the last of these inspiring individuals and that they will continue to be a part of the competition in some way. I am equally excited to begin the processing of learning more about the new teams. The number of new entrants caught us by surprise, but it has been a fascinating journey so far.
After tonight, the competition will begin a transformation. Come Monday morning, our entire focus will change. The work of sharing new ideas and technologies from the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Registered Teams will begin in earnest.
I can't wait.
That's insane. Can't believe there could be nearly 100 teams. Congrats on all your hard work!
Posted by: Garret Ohm | March 10, 2009 at 01:33 PM