Alzheimer’s Society, Innovate UK and Challenge Works have launched the Longitude Prize on Dementia – a competition with a £4million prize fund to find innovators who can create ground-breaking technologies to help people with dementia stay independent for longer.
The aim of each innovation is to enable people to live fulfilling lives and to be able to do the things they enjoy for longer. With the progressive nature of dementia, a key requirement of the winning innovation is for it to adapt over time, providing growing support as a person’s abilities decline. This work is vital as the number of those living with dementia rises every year, with over 1.4m predicted to be living with dementia in 2040 – 40% percent more than today.
Alongside funding to help them develop their ideas, innovators have access to crucial insight and dementia experts as well as specialist facilities.
So how will the winner be decided? Alongside expert judges is an international panel of people with lived experience of dementia. They’re closely involved in the development of the innovation itself, providing feedback at each stage of the competition, recommending the best ways to involve people affected by dementia and helping test the tech.
The five finalist teams have been announced, with innovations including:
- A smartwatch and smartphone-based app that uses AI to help people perform daily tasks independently
- Sensors that help identify and even predict falls
- A phone that prompts people in daily activities as well as connecting them to loved ones via intuitive video calls
- High-tech specs for facial recognition
- A home hub that helps alert families to missed medication or broken heating systems
The overall winner will be awarded £1million in 2026 to help them bring their solution to market. The product will improve the lives of people affected by dementia by helping them to live more independent and fulfilled lives.
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