£4.34m Longitude Prize on Dementia launches innovator hackathons

• Longitude Prize on Dementia is a £4.34m prize rewarding tech innovations designed to help people living with dementia live independently.
• Technologies will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to adapt to a user’s condition as it progresses to help them continue to do the things that bring them fulfillment and enjoyment.
• Two new hackathons will help potential entrants understand how they can enter the prize and connect innovators to subject matter experts.
• Longitude Prize on Dementia is open to innovators from diverse fields, no matter their experience of working in dementia-related technology.

24 October 2022 (London, United Kingdom) – The new Longitude Prize on Dementia has announced a series of virtual hackathons open to innovators hoping to win its £1m first prize. The prize is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by innovation prize experts Challenge Works.

Taking place on Wednesday 16 November 2022 at 1200 GMT (0800 ET) and Wednesday 23 November 2022 at 1500 GMT (1100 ET, 0800 PT), the sessions delivered by Challenge Works, will bring innovators together with dementia care experts and people living with the condition, to help them better understand how they can enter and win the Longitude Prize on Dementia.

The Longitude Prize on Dementia will award £1.84m in seed funding to help the 23 most promising entrants develop their ideas before awarding £1.5m of grants to five finalists in 2024. Of these, one team will win the top prize of £1m, to be awarded in early 2026. 

Ruth Neale, Programme Lead, Longitude Prize on Dementia at Challenge Works said: “The prize is seeking innovations that use AI and machine learning to learn about a user diagnosed with early-stage dementia, and adapt with them as their condition progresses. The technology should be designed for the person living with dementia to use themselves and help them keep doing the things that bring them enjoyment and fulfillment so that they can live independently for longer. Innovators are invited to find out more about the prize at one of our upcoming hackathons and apply their ingenuity to make the lives of people living with dementia better.”

The prize has been funded to provide additional capacity building support to the 23 successful entrants who make it through to the initial Discovery Award stage of the prize. The additional support includes crucial insight and expertise, such as access to data, specialist facilities, collaborations with people living with dementia and expert advice on technical and business aspects of the innovation.

Simon Lord, Head of Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society said: “This support means innovators from diverse disciplines can enter the prize whether they are AI and Machine Learning experts with little experience of working in dementia-related technologies, or people working in adult social care with a good idea but limited experience of data-driven tech – or innovators with an applicable idea and experience of neither. The prize process levels the playing field to progress the best ideas no matter their origin.”

The hackathons are free to attend. Each will introduce attendees to the Longitude Prize on Dementia, its funders and its partners (which includes Social Tech Trust and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the UK, AARP in the USA and AGE-WELL, MEDTEQ+ and CABHI in Canada). 

There will be a presentation from the prize’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel to provide attendees with first-hand insight from people living with dementia. This will be followed by a panel discussion tackling biases and misconceptions about people with dementia and the role that technology can play in helping them retain their independence.

Innovators will have the opportunity to speak with the prize partners in breakout sessions about technologies they may already be working on, or to seek advice on a potential entry to the prize.

Innovators wishing to register for the Longitude Prize on Dementia Hackathon on either Wednesday 16 November 2022 or Wednesday 23 November 2022 should visit dementia.longitudeprize.org