The Longitude Prize on Dementia’s £1 million grand prize winner to be announced
The Longitude Prize on Dementia’s £1 million grand prize winner will be announced on 18 March 2026.
Since 2022, the £4.4 million global prize has funded and supported the development of 24 different assistive technologies that use AI and machine learning to help people living with dementia remain independent for as long as possible.
Five finalists were announced in 2024, each receiving £300,000 to develop their ideas into real-world products. Each has been co-designed with people with dementia to ensure each solution meets the needs of its intended end-user. The overall winner will receive £1 million in March to help bring their product to market, making it available to buy soon.
In the running to win the Longitude Prize on Dementia are AUTONOMOUS, a smart watch companion that helps maintain routine, by Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research from Portugal, Carnegie Mellon University and LUCA School of Arts.
Additionally, AI smart glasses that support with daily activities, CrossSense, from the UK, and MemoryAid, a video phone designed to help stay connected with loved ones, by Western Sydney University and Deakin in Australia.
Finally, household assistant that uses radar technology to map disruptions to routines, SenS2, by Supersense Technologies from the UK, and Theora 360, situational awareness technology designed to help detect and predict falls, by Clairvoyant Networks, Inc. in the USA.
While all finalists have developed different solutions, they share the common goals of helping people living with dementia to stay in their homes for longer, continue doing fulfilling daily activities and maintain social interactions.
The Longitude Prize on Dementia is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works (part of Nesta).
Recent findings from Alzheimer’s Society reveal the critical need for products and services that enable independence and maximise quality of life.
Its Lived Experience Survey 2025 of over 3,000 people affected by dementia, found that three-quarters of respondents, comprising those living with the condition, unpaid carers, and loved ones, say dementia negatively impacts their ability to carry out daily tasks independently, their hobbies at 67 per cent, and their self-confidence at 64 per cent.
People also reported a negative impact on their physical health and their mental health both at 69 per cent.
Dr Jennifer Bute was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2009 at the age of 63, leading to her retiring early from her career as a GP. As a member of the Longitude Prize on Dementia’s advisory panel of people with lived experience of dementia, she said: “Dementia affects memory and independence.
“While we wait for more treatments, artificial intelligence is already helping people in the earlier stages of dementia to live more independently. Everyday technology can remind me about meetings and medication or to read books aloud for me.
“If technologies are built only for carers it can unintentionally reduce independence. To truly protect and prolong independence, technology must always be co-designed with people living with dementia. The five finalists have done exactly that, creating diverse and inspiring technologies that have real potential to improve life after diagnosis and I’m excited about what is now coming.”
There are around one million people in the UK with a form of dementia today and this number is projected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040, says Challenge Works. As a progressive condition, individual care needs and the level of support or treatment a person receives will increase over time as their symptoms worsen.
Professor Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, commented: “One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime and sadly, as symptoms worsen, individuals progressively lose their independence, and with that their sense of self. It’ll take a society to beat dementia. Alongside supporting the science that’s on the cusp of finding more effective treatments for the future, we’re harnessing the huge progress and momentum of tech and AI to help people affected by dementia here and now.”
Challenge Works states AI-driven technology has the potential to alleviate the emotional and economic demands of care; the cost of dementia in the UK is estimated at £42 billion per year, as of 2024, with people with the condition and their families shouldering the bulk of the costs.
Caroline Purslow, Head of Global Health, at Challenge Works said: “Four years ago, we launched the Longitude Prize on Dementia to help meet the urgent need for intuitive technologies that are purpose built for and with people living with dementia – empowering people to lead fulfilling lives, as independently as possible.
“Fast forward to today, we’re seeing inspiring technologies come to fruition, all of which have the potential to be life changing. Announcing the winner in March will be further evidence of the critical role innovation and challenge prizes have to play in helping to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time.”
An independent panel of global experts was assembled to judge submissions for the Longitude Prize on ALS, a five-year, £7.5 million international challenge prize set up to incentivise the use of AI to transform drug discovery for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of motor neurone disease.
