Pioneers of groundbreaking AI-led assistive technologies which support people with dementia to continue to live independently have only days left to enter a £4million prize to support their work.
The Longitude Prize on Dementia incentivises the creation of machine learning-based technologies that provide personalised solutions to help people with dementia to live in their own homes for longer and with a better quality of life.
The prize, by Challenge Works and delivered in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, gives financial backing to the innovations that help deliver this, with 23 teams chosen by the judging panel receiving £80,000 Discovery Awards, as well as expert capacity-building support to develop their solutions.
Five of the final 23 will receive an additional £300,000 in 2024 to develop a validated prototype or product, with one going on to win the £1million first prize in 2026.
Entrants have until Thursday of this week (January 26) to make their submissions.
The expert judging panel, which has just been announced, comprises:
- John T O’Brien, Department of Psychiatry, Dementia Researcher at The University of Cambridge, UK
- Dawn Brooker, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the University of Worcester Association for Dementia Studies, University of Worcester, UK
- Mary Furlong, President and CEO of Mary Furlong Associates, a global leader in consultancy for entrepreneurs and innovators in the longevity ecosystem, USA
- Dawne Garrett, Consultant Nurse, previously Lead for Older People & Dementia Care, Royal College of Nursing, UK
- Eric Kihlstrom, Chair of Open Age and Aging2.0 Ambassador, UK
- Prof. Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, Industrial Designer, Educator and Researcher at Machakos University, Kenya
- Nic Palmarini, Director at National Innovation Centre Ageing, UK
- Simon Reeve, Director of Innovation at The Alan Turing Institute, UK
- Prof. Cathy Treadaway, Professor of Creative Practice at Cardiff School of Art and Design, UK
Eric Kihlstrom, Longitude Prize on Dementia judge and ambassador for Aging 2.0, says: “After the initial effects of the pandemic lockdowns, ageing has become a ‘white hot’ area for innovation, and Alzheimer’s falls into that category.
“This prize is focused on improving the quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers. If we can do that, we can keep people living with dementia out of institutional care, and we can help people live the lives they want to.
“If you’re an innovator with an inspirational idea, you sometimes don’t know where to go and don’t know what’s already been done. If we, as judges, can make that journey faster and help innovators to focus on the critical questions – it can make a big difference.”
Dawne Garrett, former lead for older people and dementia care, Royal College of Nursing, says: “The outcome of this prize has potential to make a tangible and lasting change to how people living with early-stage dementia approach this disease. There is no doubt that the kind of technology we hope to see will uproot lazy assumptions about what people living with dementia can and can’t do, and ensure that people can live in a dignified and fulfilling way.”
People with lived experience of dementia (people living with dementia, carers and former carers) will be involved at every judging stage of the Longitude Prize on Dementia through the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).
For more information on the Longitude Prize on Dementia visit dementia.longitudeprize.org
