Eligibility and judging

The Longitude Prize on Dementia has applicants from across the globe

We encouraged applicants across the globe who were willing to work with people affected by dementia. They could be an individual, part of an academic group, non-profit, company or as a partnership. The prize was open to new ways of working together, however applications had to be made in English.

Below you will find information on eligibility and judging, and how the prize will be assessed. You can also find out more in our Innovator Handbook and FAQs page.

Eligibility requirements to enter

This section outlines the criteria by which entries have been assessed and judged throughout the challenge process. There were a set of eligibility requirements to enter that outlined who could apply to the Prize.

The eligibility requirements to enter was as follows:

The prize was open to individuals and academic groups, companies or non-profits, as well as partnerships between these.
The prize was open to innovators worldwide but entries had to be in English.
Applicants had to commit to co-designing their solutions with people living with dementia.

Applicants had to commit to maintaining a high standard of data ethics.

Entries to the Discovery Awards closed on 26 January 2023. Innovators from every continent, and from 28 countries submitted a total of 175 entries with the greatest number coming from the UK, followed by the United States and Canada.

Solutions entered ranged from: smart wearables, such as smart gloves that learn from the environment of the user to help prompt routines; cognitive interventions, such as virtual reality games with reminiscing opportunities; and smart home devices such as in-home avatars for AI chat companions.

Judging criteria

The section below outlines the criteria by which teams are assessed and judged throughout the whole challenge prize.

Breakthrough innovation that helps people live independently for longer
- Innovation: Demonstrates significant advances in technology or the use of technology, and design for people living with dementia.
- Insight: Demonstrates, through meaningful engagement and co-design, that the application objectives show insight into the needs and desires of people with dementia.
- Impact: Demonstrates potential to deliver transformative impact in one or more of the issues that compromise the continued independence for people living with dementia.
Adapting to user needs to deliver tailored support, contributing to wellbeing and quality of life
- Adaptability: Learns from and adapts to the individual and changing needs of a person with dementia, compensating for their condition as it progresses.
- Safety, security and data ethics: Goes beyond basic data security standards to reassure users and communicate transparently about how data is used and stored, and minimises bias in the data and models used and produced.
- Usability and user experience: Solution is easy and enjoyable to use and effective for a broad user-base of people with dementia, having been tested with different demographics and backgrounds to reduce bias, as well as people at different stages of the disease. It should interact with them in a way that is ethical and takes into consideration users’ vulnerability.
High standards of technical excellence
- Technological feasibility: There is a strong evidence base demonstrating the suitability and reliability of the technologies underlying the solution.
- Interoperability: Where appropriate, the solution provides open data, interoperability and/or application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as compatibility with different hardware, to help integrate it with other tools and services that users and their carers may use and mitigate against obsolescence.
Credible path to sustainability and scale
- Market potential and affordability: There is a clearly demonstrated route to market (in their chosen market), with consideration given to how their entry will be scaled and made financially accessible to a broad cross-section of people living with dementia, whatever their circumstances.
- Team capabilities: The team has the capabilities, skills and experience required to deliver the proposed technology, service and business model.