Nothing is stopping a losing team from taking their product to the market, Think of it as an added incentive to do it now rather than later. Speaking in terms

Nothing is stopping a losing team from taking their product to the market, Think of it as an added incentive to do it now rather than later. Speaking in terms of time-value... We have a cost now, and a benefit in the future. If C> B/((1+r)^n) then a team will not try to design and create this product /* C = Cost, B = Expected Benefit, r is discount rate, n is number of years*/ Now, if we add a prize = P, it is possible that C<= (B+P)/((1+r)^n). Over the spread of many teams, this means that we are subsidizing additional competition to enter into the market by making available this prize. Speaking less pedantically, if we make the prize high enough in addition to whatever rewards a team will get in the open market, then we give the team an incentive to take the gamble. Who knows, maybe you'll just win.