Industry News | Mar 18, 2026 | No Comments |
Longitude Prize on Dementia
Longitude Prize on Dementia – Winner announced 18.3.26
The Longitude Prize on Dementia has awarded the £1 million grand prize to CrossSense, a personalised AI-powered assistant, developed for smart glasses, that identifies everyday objects and guides people living with early-stage dementia through daily activities, with the ultimate aim of supporting them to live safely in their own homes for longer.
By asking gentle prompts, CrossSense’s AI companion – called Wispy – understands and learns a person’s unique way of doing things, with the AI adapting to each user’s needs as their dementia progresses.
The glasses capture the environment of the person living with dementia and the AI interprets that information to help the user to do the things that define independence – feeling confident in their own home, taking good care of themselves, planning the day ahead, completing planned activities and hosting friends and family.
Wispy trained with daily living activities
CrossSense has been developed by the London-based social enterprise, CrossSense Ltd. The team trained the technology with dozens of everyday activities including getting dressed, managing household chores safely, making a cup of tea and interacting with loved ones. Wispy asks helpful questions and offers prompts so that the user makes their own choices – and talks through what to do when a person cannot remember a particular step in a process.
The interactive, talkative and patient AI companion offers cognitive stimulation to get people thinking, talking and imagining, so that individuals continue to see the relationships between things (e.g. kitchen, mugs, spoons, teabags, water, kettle and milk are all connected to making a cup of tea), which helps to maintain neural connections, slow cognitive decline in early-stage dementia and improve quality of life.
Some improvements in cognition seen
Working with the University of Sussex and a panel of people affected by dementia, the team observed improvements in some users’ ability in naming objects, and other cognitive abilities in visual-spatial understanding, short-term and working memory – a component of memory that allows individuals to actively use information in the moment, such as following a conversation, solving a simple calculation, or remembering instructions.
The prize’s panel of international expert judges agreed that the winning solution was a genuine breakthrough technology with revolutionary potential for people living with dementia and their families.
You can see more about CrossSense on their website (external link will open in a new browser tab or window).
Szczepan Orlins, CEO, CrossSense Ltd said:
“Winning the Longitude Prize on Dementia is a dream come true. As a small team with big ambitions, the prize’s support has accelerated CrossSense in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. The technology is designed to support daily living, integrating multiple senses to simplify essential tasks. We’re grateful to the people living with dementia and their families who helped shape it. This win brings us closer to making CrossSense available to the public within the next year.”
Dame Wendy Hall, internationally renowned AI expert and chair of the Longitude Committee, said:
“CrossSense captures exactly the kind of revolutionary AI the Longitude Prize set out to support. The team’s progress over the past three years has been remarkable – their expertise, co-design approach and focus on personalised AI, built on existing smart glasses hardware, truly set them apart. Most importantly, the impact the technology has already had on people living with dementia is worth more than any prize. While only one winner can be chosen, every finalist has developed innovations that will have a positive impact and make life easier for people with dementia and their families. The prize has helped accelerate multiple solutions that will soon be available.”
Professor Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said:
“Rapid advancements in AI will give people affected by early-stage dementia the opportunity to stay safely in their own homes for longer and lead more independent, fulfilled lives. The CrossSense smart glasses companion is a prime example of harnessing technology to develop intuitive personal support that complements care given by humans. By anticipating people’s needs as their condition progresses, easing daily living challenges and providing additional reassurance to families, this revolutionary tech will allow people with dementia to maintain their independence for longer within the familiar environment of home.”
24 different assistive technologies supported
Since 2022, the £4.4 million global prize has funded and supported the development of 24 different assistive technologies. Each received £80,000 to develop ideas 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 a further £300,000 to develop their ideas into real-world products. While the finalists have developed very 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.
Throughout the prize, a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) facilitated by Alzheimer’s Society, has reviewed innovator designs, ideas and provided insights into how technologies could support and enable independent living for a person with a diagnosis of dementia.
Made up of 11 people living with dementia, carers or former carers, the LEAP’s role is to ensure people with direct experience of the condition were involved in developing each stage of the competition. While not a part of the judging process, LEAP insights were shared with the judges for consideration at each stage of the prize.
The £1 million grand prize will support the winner to make CrossSense available to the public in early 2027, with the future ambition that it would also be used by local authorities, care providers and NHS services such as memory clinics.
2024: Finalists announced in the Longitude Prize on Dementia
Finalists have been announced in the £4.4m Longitude Prize on Dementia, funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works.
They are five groundbreaking technologies that use AI to help people with dementia live more independently. The five finalists will share £1.5m to develop their solutions in pursuit of the £1m first prize to be awarded in 2026.
The innovations include AI glasses that help people living with dementia to navigate their environment and identify objects and people in the home and a smartwatch that can learn someone’s daily routine and nudge them on everyday tasks.
£300,000 for each finalist
The five finalists each receive £300,000 to develop their technologies in the next 15 months. The finalists are:
• High-tech glasses
High-tech glasses that help users recognise objects and people – the technology helps people living with dementia to recognise objects and people and remember what to say or do to improve memory recall. This will help them to carry out daily activities independently, such as making a cup of tea or greeting a loved one. The glasses, which also work with existing prescriptions, aim to delay the progression of memory loss and use synaesthesia – associating senses such as sights and sounds (CrossSense, Animorph, UK).
• Football pitch sensor technology
Football pitch sensor technology applied to predict and prevent falls – existing ‘fall’ technology can only inform caregivers once an accident has happened, this groundbreaking update will use the technology that maps how a football moves on a pitch (Ultra Wideband) to establish when falls are likely to happen and ultimately prevent them. This tech, worn in the form of a smartwatch designed for older people, could anticipate slips at certain points in a daily routine (e.g. before bed) or in certain locations (e.g. the bathroom). By detecting and calculating fall risk, the tech could limit risk of hospital admission which can speed dementia symptom progression (Theora 360, Clairvoyant Networks, Inc, USA).
• Smartwatch-based app
A smartwatch-based app to provide guidance on daily routines – this AI software processes data from a smartwatch and sensors around the home to learn about its users’ activities and gently guide them on their routines, reminding them of actions they may have forgotten through personalised cues such as illustrations (eg an open fridge or running tap), text, audio and vibrations. If they are not responsive, it will alert a carer. The software will become more intensive as a person’s dementia progresses, helping them to stay in their own home and community for longer (AUTONOMOUS, Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research, Portugal).
• At-home monitoring-box
At-home monitoring-box that protects privacy – when a loved one is in the early stages of dementia and is still able to live independently, family members can sometimes worry about their wellbeing. This ‘sensor’ box and automated messaging system scans rooms to help remotely inform family members of the loved one’s wellbeing via Whatsapp or text message (e.g. your mum is up and about and the heating came on at the usual time this morning). This provides reassurance for both family member and user, but unlike existing monitoring technology, doesn’t use cameras or wearables, connecting caregivers without infringing on privacy (Supersense Technologies, UK).
• Home assistance device
Home assistance device resembling a traditional telephone – this familiar-looking device offers a screen for video calls which can also display personalised reminders of daily activities. The phone connects users to a reassuring voice-recording of their choice that shares prompts on daily activities and displays images of items in that person’s house. It also makes video-calling loved ones as easy as picking up the phone, to empower people living with dementia to do things they love that bring meaning (MemoryAid, The MARCS Institute, Western Sydney University, Australia).
Independence slows progress of Alzheimer’s
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. She adds:
“Research suggests that remaining independent, whether in your own home or a place where extra help is available, is one of the best contributors to slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. As a daily user of technology to help manage my finances, medications – even my home lighting – it’s really encouraging to see the breadth of new tools and services being developed to support independent living.”
Non-financial support for co-creation
In addition to the financial reward, non-financial support has been funded to provide innovators with crucial insight and expertise until the end of 2025. The support includes access to potential product users, mentorship, and expert advice on technical and business aspects of the innovation to ensure products are scalable. It will also facilitate knowledge sharing between participants. All teams will be working with people with lived experience to ensure solutions are fully co-created.
In early 2026, one winner will receive a prize pot of £1 million, following a judging process with the international Judging Panel and Lived Experience Advisory Panel.
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Further reading and resources
For more information on the finalists and prize, please visit dementia.longitudeprize.org (external link will open in a new browser tab or window)
Resources on Independent Living:
£80m challenge to speed up dementia diagnosis
Longitude Prize on ALS announced
Can sound waves repair the ageing brain?
How to make shopping more dementia-friendly
People avoid visits to relatives with dementia
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