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
Battery Ventures Raises $3.25 Billion to Back Innovative Tech Companies Worldwide18.2.2026 10:00:00 CET | Press release
Battery—continuing to invest across the venture capital and buyout markets—has a single close on an oversubscribed fund Battery Ventures, the global, technology-focused investment firm, has closed a new, $3.25 billion fund to continue backing technology companies globally with a focus on the U.S., Europe and Israel. The new fund, Battery Ventures XV, comes on the heels of 15 announced exit events for the firm in 2025. Over the last five years Battery funds have realized more than $10 billion in liquidity, a testament to the firm’s stage-diversified approach. “We’re excited to build on our past success and partner with new, innovative companies in this dynamic market—driven, in large part, by the rise of artificial intelligence,” said Michael Brown, a Battery general partner. “To us, AI is ushering in one of the most consequential eras in the history of technology. We understand the gravity of this moment and feel well-suited to capitalize on the opportunity, given our global reach and
NICT Showcases Beyond 5G/6G Technologies at MWC Barcelona 202618.2.2026 09:00:00 CET | Press release
Japan's only national ICT research institute to present live demonstrations of terahertz-band wireless transmission, AI-driven communications, and advanced security technologies at Hall 6, Stand F54 National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan’s leading public research organization in information and communications technology, today announced that it will exhibit at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2026, taking place from March 2–5, 2026, at Hall 6, Stand F54. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260216620427/en/ NICT BOOTH NICT’s presence highlights Japan’s leadership in Beyond 5G and 6G research and development activities, addressing the growing limitations of current mobile networks as data traffic and connected devices continue to increase across Europe and globally. While 5G deployment is expanding, emerging applications such as AI-driven services, real-time analytics, and
BEYOND Developments Unveils EVERMORE Masterplan on Marjan Beach in Ras Al Khaimah18.2.2026 07:00:00 CET | Press release
BEYOND Developments unveiled EVERMORE, its first fully masterplanned destination on Marjan Beach in Ras Al Khaimah, marking the opening chapter of BEYOND’s 2026 growth strategy and a bold expansion beyond Dubai. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260217969384/en/ EVERMORE by BEYOND Developments - The Essence of French Living at Marjan Beach, Ras Al Khaimah (Photo: AETOSWire) Strategically located opposite Wynn Al Marjan Island, EVERMORE is a long-term lifestyle and residential waterfront district framed by the sea and Marjan’s future botanical garden. The masterplan blends French classical elegance with contemporary architecture, integrated nature, and lifestyle-focused placemaking, creating a distinctive setting where architecture, hospitality, and public spaces harmonize with water and greenery. Mahdi Amjad, Founder and Executive Chairman of BEYOND Developments, said: “Ras Al Khaimah is witnessing a new phase o
Westlake Epoxy Expands Distribution Relationship with Brenntag to India18.2.2026 02:30:00 CET | Press release
Westlake Corporation (NYSE: WLK) today announced that Westlake Epoxy will expand its long‑standing distribution relationship with Brenntag to South and West India. The agreement builds on a successful collaboration across Europe, North and South America, and Southeast Asia, extending Westlake Epoxy’s reach into one of the world’s fastest‑growing coatings, adhesives and construction markets. Under the expanded collaboration, Brenntag will distribute Westlake Epoxy’s established portfolio of epoxy solutions for coatings, adhesives and construction applications, including the EPON™, EPIKOTE™, EPIKURE™ and EPI‑REZ™ product lines. Customers are expected to benefit from reliable local supply, technical service and application‑focused formulation support tailored to regional requirements. India’s coatings, adhesives and construction sectors continue to grow, driven by infrastructure investment, urbanization and increasing performance expectations. By combining Westlake Epoxy’s proven epoxy te
Compass Pathways Launches Proposed $150.0 Million Public Offering17.2.2026 22:06:00 CET | Press release
Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation, announced today the launch of a proposed public offering of $150.0 million of American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”), each representing one ordinary share, and in lieu of ADSs, to certain institutional investors, pre-funded warrants to purchase ADSs. All securities are being offered by Compass Pathways. Compass Pathways expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $22.5 million of ADSs at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions . The proposed offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the proposed offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the proposed offering. Jefferies, TD Cowen, Cantor and Stifel are acting as joint book-runners for the proposed offering. H.C. Wainwright & Co. is also acting as lead mana
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