Technology is key to helping people with dementia
Innovation in digital technology has huge potential to transform the lives of people affected by dementia.
We’re living in an age where new technologies, like AI, are fast becoming part of day-to-day life.
With over 900,000 people with dementia living in the UK - forecast to rise to 1 million by 2025 - we must explore how emerging technologies can support people living with dementia.
Dementia is a global issue and requires an international solution.
The Longitude Prize
That’s why Alzheimer’s Society with Innovate UK and Challenge Works launched the Longitude Prize.
It’s a £4.3 million international competition created to support the development of breakthrough digital projects. To be successful in the competition these projects must improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and help them to keep their independence.
So far, a range of ideas have been whittled down to the 24 most promising. A panel of people with lived experience of dementia as well as expert scientists approved the projects which come from seven countries across Europe, North and South America, Australia and the Middle East. These 24 teams have attracted seed funding of £80,000 each to develop their ideas.
Discoveries Showcase
I was privileged to see some of these ideas as a prototype, meet the innovator teams behind them, and learn more about the products at a Discoveries Showcase held at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London.
One project aims to understand the link between hearing loss and dementia. The team aims to develop a hearing training app which enables people to improve their hearing and retain their independence for longer.
Another is a VR experience which incorporates AI-generated natural landscapes with meditation exercises to combat stress and agitation.
All projects are geared towards keeping people living with dementia independent for longer and improving their quality of life through practical technological solutions.
The scale of the challenge
The scale of the challenge of dementia cannot be underestimated.
Dementia costs the health and social care system £36.1 billion every year in the UK and that is forecast to rise to £94.1 billion by 2040.
Technological solutions can massively improve peoples’ lives, and in turn support our creaking health and social care system, by helping people living with dementia to retain their independence and stay in their own homes for longer.
What comes next?
The next stage is in August 2024 when 24 teams will be reduced to five semi-finalists each receiving £300,000 to further develop their solutions.
At the Grand Final in February 2026, the winner of the £1 million Longitude Prize will be announced – with the prize money enabling them to take their technology to market.
The product they develop will help people living with dementia across the globe and make the future better for millions more.
It is inspiring and humbling to be a part of something that will make such a difference to the carers, the families, and the people living in the shadow of this devastating, terminal disease.
The prize will be made possible by a range of philanthropists, foundations and family foundations.
I’d like to thank all of them for their support, with a particular mention for Tariq Raja from CareTech Foundation and Rob McAfee from CareTech, who both spoke with such personal enthusiasm, why it is a priority for the Foundation, and how CareTech looks forward to providing critical non-financial support to the innovators.
Find out more about the Longitude Prize. (live link to the below)
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/longitude-prize
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@InnovateUK Challenge Works @ CareTech HunterFoundation
