CA-XPRIZE
23.6.2021 19:32:08 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
XPRIZE , the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, and IBM Watson , IBM’s AI technology for business, today announced the Grand Prize Winner in the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE Challenge . First launched in 2016, the five-year global competition looked to accelerate adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and spark creative, innovative and audacious demonstrations of the technology that are truly scalable to solve societal grand challenges.
Winning first place honors is Zzapp Malaria , in second place is Aifred Health , followed by Marinus Analytics . These finalists were selected out of a pool of 10 semifinalists following presentations of their solutions to a panel of judges during an event held at TED headquarters in New York City last year. A $3 million grand prize, $1 million second place prize, and $500k third place prize will be awarded to the teams. In total, over 150 teams throughout the world joined the competition.
"After five years of hard work and dedication, XPRIZE is thrilled to announce Zzapp Malaria as the grand prize winner of IBM Watson AI XPRIZE,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “Zzapp Malaria, Aifred Health and Marinus Analytics are on the forefront of AI advancement, and we are looking forward to seeing firsthand the positive impact they will have on our future.”
"Each of the three finalists of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE showcase what's possible when the power of AI is used to address some of the world’s toughest challenges,” said Daniel Hernandez, General Manager, IBM Data and AI. “It’s inspiring to witness how the AI technologies we developed at IBM help these organizations realize and scale their good tech solutions to drive positive societal change.”
Based out of Tel Aviv, Israel, Zzapp Malaria is committed to malaria elimination. The team’s AI technology is geared towards tackling the main challenges faced by malaria elimination campaigns by creating custom models, built with tools like IBM Watson Studio for Cloud Pak for Data, to predict the number of small water bodies caused by weather, enabling it to optimize the timing for launching larviciding operations.
- Marinus Analytics (based out of Pittsburgh, PA): A woman-owned company founded in 2014 out of Carnegie Mellon Robotics that is driven by a single social mission: To fight human trafficking. Their solution, Traffic Jam, is a suite of analytics tools that saves hours and sometimes days of investigative time to find traffickers and recover victims by quickly turning big data into actionable intelligence. Marinus Analytics has used IBM Watson Discovery and IBM Watson Assistant to extend their Traffic Jam application, aiding investigation into financial fraud and the illicit flow of proceeds to international crime groups.
- Aifred Health (based out of Montreal, Canada): A digital health company focused on clinical decision support in mental health, starting with depression. The team’s solution uses AI to learn from thousands of patients to help tailor treatment, reducing the time it takes for a patient to reach remission. IBM Watson Health is providing Aifred Health with millions of records of observational depression data to improve their ML models.
To determine the winner, XPRIZE AI convened a global jury of representatives from around the world. The jury evaluated each team based on their performance in the following four dimensions: achieved technical impact, evidenced real-world impact, scalability of real-world impact, and ethics and safety.
The winning teams were announced today in partnership with WIRED during the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE’s AI For Good fireside chat featuring Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE, and Seth Dobrin, IBM’s Chief AI Officer. The two discussed the challenge and the importance of AI for the future of humanity. As part of their partnership with WIRED, XPRIZE opened up a public vote for the Most Inspiring Team, and Zzapp Malaria was selected as the winner. You can watch the full fireside chat and view additional content via WIRED’s content hub linked here.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal, $15M XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, $10 Million XPRIZE Rainforest, $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE and $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling. For more information, visit xprize.org.
About IBM Watson
Watson is IBM’s AI technology for business, helping organizations to better predict and shape future outcomes, automate complex processes, and optimize employees’ time. Watson has evolved from an IBM Research project, to experimentation, to a scaled, open set of products that run anywhere. With more than 40,000 client engagements, Watson is being applied by leading global brands across a variety of industries to transform how people work. To learn more, visit: https://www.ibm.com/watson .
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210623005848/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Presidio Investors Expands Portfolio with Strategic Investment in Edge Home Finance21.4.2026 03:10:00 CEST | Press release
Presidio Investors ("Presidio") has completed a strategic investment in Edge Home Finance, a mortgage brokerage platform. Headquartered in Minnetonka, MN, Edge Home Finance has built a strong reputation within the mortgage broker channel by empowering loan originators and delivering best-in-class service and innovation. The investment from Presidio represents an opportunity to leverage Edge’s momentum through enhanced investments in technology, operational infrastructure, and strategic acquisitions. Edge Home Finance will continue operating with the same core platform, team, and commitment to the broker community that has fueled its success. Partner, Victor Masaya, of Presidio Investors, commented: “Edge Home Finance's platform, track record and broker-focused approach aligns perfectly with our vision of fostering excellence and growth. Together, we aim to redefine what's possible in the mortgage brokerage channel and deliver an unparalleled value proposition to loan originators." Edge
Rigaku Enters Strategic Alliance with Onto Innovation through 27 % Equity Investment21.4.2026 01:14:00 CEST | Press release
Expanding Semiconductor Opportunities through X-ray, Optical, and AI Integration Rigaku Holdings Corporation (headquarters: Akishima, Tokyo; President and CEO: Jun Kawakami; “Rigaku”), a global leader in X-ray analytical technologies, today announced that it has entered into a strategic capital and business alliance with Onto Innovation Inc. (headquarters: Massachusetts, USA; CEO: Michael P. Plisinski; “Onto Innovation”). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260420467739/en/ Double Logo “As semiconductor devices become more complex, particularly with the increasing importance of three-dimensional structures, Rigaku has been seeking to enhance its analytical capabilities by incorporating advanced model-based and AI-driven algorithms in optical metrology,” said Jun Kawakami, President and CEO, Rigaku Holdings Corporation. “Onto Innovation not only brings strong expertise in optical technologies and software, but also
Grid Dynamics Scales Hyper-Personalization for Galeries Lafayette; Drives 7% Revenue Increase via AI-Powered Search and Merchandising20.4.2026 22:05:00 CEST | Press release
Key Takeaways: Galeries Lafayette achieved a 7% total revenue increase and an 8% rise in average basket value by replatforming its legacy search and recommendation stack with Google Vertex AI Search for Commerce and Grid Dynamics' proprietary Merchandising Experience Platform (MXP). The solution successfully modernized a complex catalog of over 600,000 products—including 350,000 from third-party marketplaces—contributing to a 20% year-over-year increase in online sales. This successful program showcases Grid Dynamics’ expertise in bridging the gap between advanced AI models and measurable retail profitability for global enterprises. Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GDYN) (“Grid Dynamics”), a premier AI transformation partner for the Fortune 1000, today announced the successful deployment of a hyper-personalized digital shopping experience for Galeries Lafayette, the iconic French department store. By integrating Google Vertex AI Search for Commerce with the proprietary Grid Dynami
Lattice Collaborates with TI to Accelerate Edge AI for Robotics and Industrial Applications20.4.2026 22:00:00 CEST | Press release
Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ: LSCC), the low power programmable leader, today announced that the company is collaborating with Texas Instruments (TI) to simplify sensor integration and to scale real-time edge AI systems. The combination of TI’s sensing technologies and the Lattice Holoscan Sensor Bridge solution, based on Lattice low power FPGA technology, will provide developers with a flexible hardware foundation for synchronized, low latency sensor data pipelines in advanced robotics and industrial applications. The collaboration demonstrates a real-time AI sensor fusion architecture that integrates TI mmWave radar and camera sensors using NVIDIA Holoscan Sensor Bridge running on Lattice’s low power FPGA. The FPGA acts as a companion chip delivering synchronized sensor data directly into GPU-accessible memory to enable low latency and robust perception for robotics and industrial edge AI applications. “As edge AI systems scale, developers need flexible platforms that simplify senso
Inspirit Capital to Acquire Kaplan Languages Group20.4.2026 17:15:00 CEST | Press release
Inspirit Capital, a specialist investor in corporate carve-outs, is pleased to announce its plans to acquire KLG Kaplan Languages Group (“KLG”), a leading global language education platform, from Kaplan. All conditions for the sale have been met, and completion is due to take place on 1 May. KLG comprises Kaplan International Languages, Alpadia Language Schools, Azurlingua, and ESL Education. Since 2006, KLG has provided high-quality language education, supporting students in achieving their language goals through academic excellence, cultural immersion, and life-changing experiences. Inspirit Capital will support KLG in delivering on its ambitious growth plans, whilst continuing its fundamental mission to transform lives through language education. This next phase of ownership will also see the development of a refreshed standalone brand identity for KLG, with further announcements to follow on this in due course. Paul Youens, Investment Director, Inspirit Capital: “KLG has built a st
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom