David Cameron is offering £1 million of taxpayer's cash to anyone who can solve the world's biggest problem - whatever that might be.

 

In an unusual competition, the Government will ask people to determine the greatest challenge facing humanity today, such as finding a replacement¹ for oil, producing low-cost food or eradicating² malaria³.

 

Once the trickiest⁴ issue has been decided⁵, the Prime Minister will give away £1 million in cash to the person who successfully works out the answer.

 

The competition is modelled on the Longitude⁶ Prize launched by Parliament in 1714, which offered £20,000 to anyone who could discover how far east or west ships had sailed. Sailors could work out their location north and south, and were able to determine their local time from the sun. However, they needed to know the time at a reference point in order to find out how far they had travelled east or west.

 

Many people thought the issue was impossible to solve, but the prize was eventually won by John Harrison, a working-class joiner. He did this by designing a clock that kept accurate time at sea and enabled sailors to work out their location.

 

Almost exactly 300 years on, Mr Cameron will set up a new Longitude Committee, chaired by the Lord Rees, the Astronomer⁷ Royal, to gather suggestions and draw up a shortlist of problems facing the world. It will then launch a race to solve the most difficult predicament（窘况，困境）.

 

Sources said the prize may not actually be awarded for many years, as scientists in universities and companies have been wrestling with many of the world's most difficult problems for a long time.

 

A Downing Street source said: “We want people to think big: what does the world need and how can we achieve that? We are looking for the next penicillin⁸, aeroplane or World Wide Web. Can we grow limbs or create universal low carbon travel? Something that is going to really revolutionize what we do and how we live our lives - sending us sprinting⁹ ahead in the global race.”

 

Speaking at a conference on science ahead of the G8 summit, Mr Cameron will say it is essential to "nurture¹⁰ new ideas" and "bend over backwards¹¹ to attract the best and the brightest" to Britain.

 

He will host the G8 summit of world leaders in Northern Ireland next week, pledging to promote an "ambitious practical and pro-business agenda that benefits everyone".

 

Last night a Labour source said the party could think of "plenty of problems" to solve if Mr Cameron wants ideas.

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