Collaboration ensures innovators benefit from critical resources to protect and advance breakthrough solutions

XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges, and Avanci, the independent global leader in one-stop IP licensing platforms, today announced a partnership to empower XPRIZE innovators.

For more than three decades, XPRIZE competitions have ignited bold solutions that ripple far beyond the competition itself to transform industries, inspire new technologies, and build an extraordinary global ecosystem of innovators dedicated to problem solving. This partnership with Avanci ensures that XPRIZE teams and alumni have access to the expertise and resources they need to protect, scale, and amplify their impact in the real world through access to Avanci’s expertise and experience in intellectual property (IP) protection and licensing. Tailored support from Avanci will help those entrepreneurs protect their breakthrough innovations, navigate complex licensing landscapes, and position them for greater success.

“The impact of our work extends well beyond the conclusion of an XPRIZE competition - the competing teams’ impact continues to shape industries and improve lives long after a prize is awarded,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO, XPRIZE. “Our innovators have generated more than 9,700 patents and counting for work that’s driving real change across the globe. With Avanci’s expertise, we’re helping them protect and scale those breakthroughs to deliver lasting impact in every sector.”

Kasim Alfalahi, Founder and CEO of Avanci, added: “We’re inspired by XPRIZE’s mission to solve humanity’s greatest challenges through innovation. Our team brings decades of senior IP and licensing experience at many of the world’s leading companies across industries. By engaging early in the creative process, we can empower innovators to protect and scale their solutions for maximum impact. Our organizations complement one another perfectly. Together, we can help innovators realize their vision for a better world.”

Avanci has advised several XPRIZE teams across six different XPRIZE competitions, including participants in the recently awarded XPRIZE Rainforest competition. One notable example is how the company provided support to Map of Life Solutions (MOL), who won $2 million as one of the leading teams in demonstrating the most innovative technology for exploring Earth’s biodiversity.

As Map of Life Solutions aims to commercialize its biodiversity intelligence platform and expand access to scalable biodiversity measurement tools, they came to Avanci with complex questions around intellectual property and data licensing for foundational global biodiversity datasets. Avanci supported them by providing legal and strategic guidance to clarify data-use rights and assess IP protection options.

“Avanci’s support helped us navigate one of the most critical steps in turning a global biodiversity science platform into a viable business,” said Chrissy Durkin, CCO of Map of Life Solutions. “Their expertise gave us the confidence that our data-driven innovation could scale responsibly—protecting both our technology and the integrity of the science behind it.”

Avanci also supported XPRIZE Carbon Removal competitor, BIOSORRA, a company focused on biochar carbon removal solutions, aiming to build a robust IP strategy that protects their scientific and technological innovations, while supporting company scalability, business goals, and the positive impact of their work.

"We leveraged Avanci’s expertise to strengthen BIOSORRA’s intellectual property framework, ensuring it evolves alongside our growth, safeguards our technological advancements all towards enhancing brand reputation, and reinforces our mission-driven innovation,” said Inés Serra Baucells, Co-Founder and CEO, BIOSORRA.

The next phase of the Avanci and XPRIZE partnership is to develop tools to protect and support IP that can be shared across XPRIZE’s Alumni Network of 650 teams.

The partnership announcement comes ahead of XPRIZE’s annual Visioneering event taking place in Malibu, California October 23-25, 2025, where leaders from around the world convene to explore future prize concepts. Avanci will be a sponsor of the event and will join a panel discussion to share insights and early learnings from supporting XPRIZE teams through this new collaboration.

About XPRIZE

XPRIZE is the recognized global leader in designing and executing large-scale competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. For over 30 years, our unique model has democratized crowd-sourced innovation and scientifically scalable solutions that accelerate a more equitable and abundant future. Donate, learn more, and co-architect a world of abundance with us at xprize.org.

About Avanci

Avanci believes that sharing patented technology can be simpler. A global independent intermediary not owned or controlled by licensors or licensees, Avanci works at the intersection of different industries. Our one-stop solutions are designed to bring efficiency, convenience, and predictability to the licensing process. Since 2016, Avanci has been driving innovation forward by making connections through our licensing platforms. www.avanci.com

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XPRIZE and Avanci launch partnership to empower innovators with expert guidance on intellectual property and licensing.