From smart gloves to games: 175 brilliant ideas enter the Longitude Prize on Dementia

New assistive technology aimed at improving the independence of people living with dementia is on the horizon, proven by the 175 applications we received from innovators all over the world. Since the launch of the Longitude Prize on Dementia in September 2022, Challenge Works, alongside Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, have run outreach activities such as hackathons and ‘ask us anything’ sessions to attract ambitious and innovative artificial intelligence-based solutions that will learn from people living with dementia and adapt to their condition as it progresses.

Entries to the Discovery Awards closed on 26 January 2023. Innovators from every continent, and from 28 countries submitted entries with the greatest number coming from the UK, followed by the United States and Canada.

Solutions entered ranged from: smart wearables, such as smart gloves that learn from the environment of the user to help prompt routines; cognitive interventions, such as virtual reality games with reminiscing opportunities; and smart home devices such as in-home avatars for AI chat companions.

Competing entries in the running for the prize include:

• Wearables – smart glasses to aid memory recollection through story-telling AI and facial recognition; smart gloves to learn from the environment a person is in and help prompt routines, and; activity trackers linked to smartphones to support management of daily activities.
• Cognitive interventions – software to train cognitive skills and prevent further memory problems; virtual reality games featuring reminiscing opportunities to help provide useful cues and prompts for people living with dementia, and; games to help people with dementia maintain and reduce the speed of decline of life skills and brain functions thought to be lost.
• Technology for the home and physical aids – In-home avatars and AI chat companions; personalised indoor lighting informed by daily activity to help alleviate depression, poor sleep and improve wellbeing, and; navigation and walking aids to ensure people are able to safely traverse their environments.

The applications will be assessed by an expert judging panel and feedback from our Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP). The LEAP is composed of people with lived experiences of dementia who will provide insight into how technologies can support and enable independent living for a person with a diagnosis of dementia to ensure solutions are fit for purpose.

What are the Discovery Awards? 

Following assessment and judging, 23 of the most promising, innovative solutions will be awarded £80,000 to further develop and co-create their solutions with the LEAP. In addition to the financial support provided, the teams will receive non-financial expert support in collaboration with international prize partners for their project objectives. Support will include access to data and data storage, technical and business expertise for bringing an AI product to market, and collaborations with people affected by dementia.

In 2024, 5 finalists will be selected to win £300,000 to develop prototypes and test products on the end-users. The winning solution will receive £1 million in 2026.