Longitude Prize on dementia names expert judging panelTuring Institute, University of Cambridge and US longevity experts named judges of ground-breaking dementia tech prize.
Innovation prize specialists Challenge Works has today announced details of the judging panel for the Longitude Prize on Dementia, naming nine judges including representatives from The Alan Turing Institute and University of Cambridge.

Longevity.Technology: The Longitude Prize on Dementia, which launched in September, is a £4.34 million challenge prize to incentivise the creation of AI and machine-learning based tech and personalised tools. Co-created with people living with the early stages of dementia, the resulting developments will provide personalised solutions to help people with dementia to live longer, higher quality, more independent lives at home by learning from a person’s data about what they do, who they know and what’s most important to them as an individual.

£3.34 million will be awarded in seed funding and development grants to the most promising solutions, with a £1 million first prize to be awarded in 2026. In addition, wider support has been funded to provide innovators with crucial insight and expertise, facilitating what they need to bring their ideas to life.

Applications to the prize remain open until 26 January 2023. In the summer, once the judging panel has assessed the candidates, 23 teams will be selected to receive £80k Discovery Awards and expert capacity-building support to develop their solutions.

Five will receive an additional £300k in 2024 to develop a validated prototype or product with one going on to win the £1 million first prize in 2026.

Judging the entries and guiding the selection of the 23 teams making it through to the Discovery Award stage of the prize are:

John T O’Brien, Department of Psychiatry, Dementia Researcher at The University of Cambridge, UK
Dawn Brooker, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the University of Worcester Association for Dementia Studies, University of Worcester, UK
Mary Furlong, President and CEO of Mary Furlong Associates, a global leader in consultancy for entrepreneurs and innovators in the longevity ecosystem, USA
Dawne Garrett, Consultant Nurse, previously Lead for Older People & Dementia Care, Royal College of Nursing, UK
Eric Kihlstrom, Chair of Open Age and Aging2.0 Ambassador, UK
Professor Mugendi K M’Rithaa, Industrial Designer, Educator and Researcher at Machakos University, Kenya
Nic Palmarini, Director at National Innovation Centre Ageing, UK
Simon Reeve, Director of Innovation at The Alan Turing Institute, UK
Professor Cathy Treadaway, Professor of Creative Practice at Cardiff School of Art and Design, UK
Eric Kihlstrom, Longitude Prize on Dementia Judge and Ambassador for Aging 2.0 says: “After the initial effects of the pandemic lockdowns, ageing has become a ‘white hot’ area for innovation, and Alzheimer’s falls into that category. This prize is focused on improving the quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers. If we can do that, we can keep people living with dementia out of institutional care, and we can help people live the lives they want to.

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