Scientific American has named the XPrize Foundation as the Policy Leader of the Year.

“There is no doubt that the challenges set by the X Prize Foundation light a fire under innovators worldwide,” the magazine said.

In 2006, the XPrize Foundation announced the $10-million Archon X Prize, for the first private team to sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days at a cost of less than $1 million. The winning technology would accelerate deployment of new discoveries such as genome-wide association studies, which analyze large patient groups to identify genes responsible for complex hereditary diseases.