Longitude Prize on Dementia, AARP and AGE-WELL seeking North America entrants to £4.1m global innovation prize

Challenge Works is teaming up with AARP and Canada’s AGE-WELL to encourage innovators across North America to apply to win the new Longitude Prize on Dementia.

The Longitude Prize on Dementia will reward innovators developing assistive technologies using AI and Machine Learning for people living with dementia. In the United States, 5.8 million people have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, while in Canada, around a further 750,000 people are estimated to live with dementia.

£4.1 MILLION TO BE WON

The £4.1 m (US$4.9/CA$6.4m) prize  will award £3.1 million (US$3.7/CA$4.8m) in seed funding and grants to the most promising innovators, with a £1 million (US$1.2m/CA$1.6m) prize awarded to the winner in early 2026. Innovations should support people to remain independent in their own homes as long as possible – one of the best ways to slow the advance of the disease.

Funded by Alzheimer’s Society – the UK’s leading dementia charity – and Innovate UK – the UK government’s innovation agency – the Longitude Prize on Dementia is delivered by global challenge prize experts, Challenge Works.

TECH THAT BECOMES EXTENSION TO THE WORKING BRAIN

Opening for entries this September, innovators are invited to develop technologies that learn about the lives and routines of people living with early stage dementia, employing assistive technology and machine learning to adapt as their condition progresses. 

“We know that there are treatments around the corner but we want to change the way people are living with dementia now,” said Kate Lee, CEO of Alzheimer’s Society. “The Longitude Prize on Dementia will deliver technologies that become an extension of the individual’s working ‘brain’ and memory in a way that is specific to their needs – enabling them to continue living at home and doing the things they love for as long as possible.”

SUPPORT FOR NORTH AMERICAN INNOVATORS

Wider support has been funded to provide innovators with crucial insight and expertise, facilitating whatever they need to bring their ideas to life. 

In the United States, prize competitors may be invited to join the AARP Innovation Labs’ accelerator program. The program offers companies the opportunity to gain insight into the 50-plus market and have access to resources, including subject matter expertise, growth marketing strategy, consultations and more. To be eligible for the accelerator program, entrants must either be incorporated in or currently be in-market in the United States and must pass review by AARP. 

“AARP works every day to empower people to choose how they live as they age, and people living with dementia should also have that opportunity,” said Sarah Lenz Lock, AARP senior vice president of policy and executive director of the Global Council on Brain Health. “The Longitude Prize on Dementia will bring together some of the world’s best innovators to help improve the quality of life for people with dementia and their caregivers. It is our hope technologies developed through this prize will give people with dementia access to innovations that can help them maintain their independence.”

In Canada AGE-WELL’s long track record of supporting the development of innovations and technologies for health ageing, will be an essential partner in delivering tailored support to the innovators named discovery awardees in the prize in early 2023.

“New technologies in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning offer an unprecedented opportunity to help people living with dementia to maintain their independence and remain longer in their own homes, said Dr. Alex Mihailidis, Scientific Director and CEO of AGE-WELL, Canada’s technology and ageing network. “We are really pleased to lend our support to this important new prize, which will tap into the spirit of innovation that abounds in the AgeTech sector.”

REGISTER NOW

The Longitude Prize on Dementia will open for entries in September 2022. Innovators who want to apply should register their interest at dementia.longitudeprize.org