Towards the end of 2022 I received a call from the UK’s Alzheimer’s Society asking me if I would be interested in becoming a member of the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) for the Longitude Prize on Dementia. I didn’t know what this was but as a carer and someone with a background in technology marketing, I jumped at the opportunity when I discovered it was an invitation to innovators around the world to develop digital solutions to support people with dementia to remain independent for as long as possible.
Living in the UK, USA and Canada, the LEAP comprised six people living with a dementia diagnosis and six carers and was tasked with reviewing innovator designs and ideas as well as providing insights into how technologies could support and enable independent living for people living with dementia. The panel also played a key role in the governance and development of the Prize.
In early 2023 I was invited to Chair the LEAP, a position which I saw as a privilege and honour given the wonderful and very committed people I found myself working alongside.
There were initially 175 submissions for the GBP 1 million (EUR 1.14 million) prize funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK – the UK’s innovation agency – with the project designed and delivered by innovation experts Challenge Works.
The LEAP met regularly via Zoom over the project’s three-year lifecycle beginning when 128 of the submissions had already been eliminated, leaving 47 for consideration. By late 2024 and after many hours spent interviewing the innovators and poring over their reports and spreadsheets, the following contenders had emerged from the pack as the five finalists:
• AUTONOMOUS (Portugal): A smartwatch-based app using AI to guide users through daily routines and tasks
• CrossSense (UK): Smart glasses using augmented reality to help users recognize people and objects
• MemoryAid (Australia): A smart home assistance device styled as a traditional telephone for reminders and calls
• Supersense Technologies (UK): A privacy-focused, camera-free home monitoring radar-based system that tracks movement
• Theora 360 (USA): A smart watch that uses AI and machine learning to predict and prevent falls.
At a ceremony in London on 18 March 2026, and in an atmosphere of great excitement and anticipation, CrossSense emerged as the winner of the GBP 1M prize. To provide a little more detail, their solution comprises AR smart glasses paired with an AI-powered app designed to help people living with early-to-mid stage dementia maintain their independence and enjoy daily life. The system overlays multisensory cues, such as words, shapes, colours and sounds, onto the user’s environment to support memory, safety, communication and everyday tasks.
CrossSense can recognise objects in view and display their names or functions to help users overcome word-finding difficulties. It can also identify potential hazards, read labels or handwritten notes, and provide contextual reminders. The system includes a discreet AI assistant, Wispy, which speaks softly through the glasses to provide prompts, guidance and conversation. Wispy is context-aware and can recall relevant information, offer reassurance and guide users step by step through tasks such as cooking.
Carers have not been forgotten: they can connect through a companion smartphone app, which mirrors key features of the glasses and helps them support the user remotely. To say their innovation is remarkable is an understatement but I would expect that all five finalists have the potential to succeed commercially.
The LEAP members were all invited to London for the prize giving and therefore met in person for the very first time having been just faces in boxes on Zoom screens for the prior three years. The connections were instant and we were unanimous in expressing how thrilled we all were to have played our part, alongside the professional judges, in bringing real hope to people living with dementia as well as to their carers.
If you would like to know more about the Longitude Prize on Dementia, here’s the link: https://dementia.longitudeprize.org/
