MiiCare are semi-finalists in the Longitude prize on dementia

21 Jun

London, UK, June 07, 2023 - MiiCare awarded £80k by Longitude Prize on Dementia for the AI for Dementia Empowerment and Engagement (AIDE)

MiiCare has been named a semi-finalist in the Longitude Prize on Dementia for its holistic care ecosystem, AIDE. They have been awarded one 24 Discovery Award grants worth £80k as part of the £4m Longitude Prize on Dementia.

A total of £1.9m has today been awarded to 24 pioneering teams of developers, researchers and innovators from across the globe in the international challenge competition funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, and designed and delivered by Challenge Works. The team will now work alongside people living with dementia and their carers to ensure technologies are intuitive, easy-to-use and able to adapt to their changing needs.

AIDE is a holistic care ecosystem that brings together non-intrusive clinical monitoring, an empathetic AI virtual companion, online community participation, dementia care practitioners, memory boxes, and cognitive stimulation therapy into one seamless platform for enhancing the quality of life of people living with dementia.

John Wall, Co-Founder, MiiCare, said: “The AIDE project for the Longitude Dementia Prize takes MiiCare's preventative care platform and digital health Coach, Monica, to new heights by enhancing social inclusion and lasting impact specifically for people living with Dementia. We are transforming the home into an empowering, connected space where PLWD won't only be able to manage their own health and well-being, but thrive with their memories, families, and community activities close by in one seamless aging experience.”

Kate Lee, CEO, Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It’s vital people with dementia are able to live independently, doing things that bring them fulfilment, for as long as possible. And that’s exactly what tech innovation can provide. Today’s Discovery Award winners all have the capacity to develop cutting-edge tools that bring hope to the here and now, making a tangible difference to people’s lives. New drugs have been discovered which slow the progression of early Alzheimer’s disease, but there’s still more to do. Alzheimer’s Society remains committed to innovative projects like the Longitude Prize so that together we can improve the lives of people living with dementia and their families.”

Indro Mukerjee, CEO, Innovate UK said: “By addressing dementia the Longitude Prize tackles a global health crisis. Worldwide, around 50 million people have dementia and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. Innovate UK is pleased to support this initiative along with the other vital work we are doing in this area. The UK is a global leader in innovation for healthy ageing and this prize will incentivise new technologies. This will help people with dementia, their families and their carers, to make living with the condition easier”.

The Longitude Prize on Dementia is driving the development of personalised, technology-based tools that are co-created with people living with the early stages of dementia, helping them live independent, more fulfilled lives and enable them to do the things they enjoy.

The competition itself has also been co-designed with people living with dementia. Judges were advised in their decision making by the prizes Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).

Trevor Salomon, whose wife Yvonne was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2013, is Chair of the Longitude Prize on Dementia’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel. The group – which includes people living with dementia, carers and former carers – has steered the design of the prize, as well as the judging and assessment processes.

Trevor said: “Before her diagnosis, my wife astonished everyone with her ability to do anything she set her mind to. She was an amazing cook, gardener, and there was nothing she couldn’t make or repair on her sewing machine.

“If we could access technologies that help extend her independence and her enjoyment of those pastimes, it would be so worthwhile. So I’m really impressed by the innovative thinking and creativity of the Discovery Award winners. Advances in AI could lead to new technologies that would be transformative for people like my wife – but they need to be easy to use, intuitive and adapt to the unique needs of each person. Technologies shouldn’t be developed in a bubble; they need to be designed and tested by the people who will ultimately benefit from them."

In 2024, five finalists will progress with additional £1.5m in funding to build real-world prototypes. In total, more than £3 million will be awarded in seed funding and development grants with a £1 million first prize to be awarded in 2026.

In addition, wider expert non-financial support has been funded to provide innovators with crucial insight and expertise in the next three years, such as access to data, specialist facilities, collaborations with people living with dementia and expert advice on technical and business aspects of the innovation and to facilitate knowledge sharing between participants.

One of the Discovery Awards awarded today, the ‘Paul and Nick Harvey Discovery Award’, is sponsored by the Hunter Foundation, with further support coming from Heather Corrie and the Caretech Foundation.

To find out more about the Longitude Prize on Dementia and the 24 Discovery Award winners progressing to the semi-finals of the prize, visit dementia.longitudeprize.org

Notes to Editors

For media enquiries, please contact Paul Buckland at paul.buckland@miicare.co.uk.

About the Longitude Prize on Dementia

The Longitude Prize on Dementia is a £4 million prize to drive the creation of personalised, technology-based tools that are co-created with people living with the early stages of dementia, helping them live independent, more fulfilled lives and enabling them to do the things they enjoy.

Dementia is a progressive condition and there is no cure, but people can live well for years. As hospitalisations can increase the rate of decline, the hope is that assistive technology can help people stay safe and independent in their home for longer. The winning solution will use the latest advances in technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in combination with user data and testing to provide personalised support for people living with dementia.

The Longitude Prize on Dementia is funded by the UK’s Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works.

Alzheimer’s Society is the UK’s leading dementia charity. It is a vital source of support and a powerful force for change for everyone affected by dementia.
Innovate UK is the UK's innovation agency, helping UK businesses to grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.
One of the Discovery Awards awarded, the ‘Paul and Nick Harvey Discovery Award’ is sponsored by the Hunter Foundation, with further support coming from Heather Corrie and the Caretech Foundation.
The prize has also received funding from the Medical Research Council. The MRC funds research at the forefront of science to prevent illness, develop therapies and improve human health.
Challenge Works is a global authority on the design and delivery of challenge prizes to unlock technological solutions focused on social good.

All Discovery Award winners are subject to due diligence and contracting which is being undertaken by Challenge Works.

About MiiCare

MiiCare™ is a social enterprise set up by a group of professionals with diverse industry backgrounds, ranging from healthcare to technology and product development. The team came together with one objective in mind - To give vulnerable people (both young and not so young) a Healthy, Safe, and Happy life by building on emerging IoT (Internet of Things) technologies and advancement in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Our team spent over a year working alongside a group of elderly people, clinicians and carers to understand the issues faced by vulnerable people in their day-to-day life. At the end of this lengthy consultative process, the team developed our first prototype - MiiCube.

MiiCube has since been through a very long and thorough development and user-testing journey as the team wanted a solution which is reliable, adaptable and user-friendly. The result is a technological marvel which is suitable for a wide range of chronic conditions and builds on non-intrusive sensing technologies to preserve the privacy and dignity of the users, meaning no cameras and no video recording.

Our differentiating value proposition is our solution's ability to cater for the 'Physical' as well as 'Emotional' well-being of our users. We do this by combining the advancement in Technology Enabled Care solutions and Social Media. This allows us to detect and notify an imminent risk to a vulnerable adult as well as link individuals of similar interest to keep them entertained and happy, and help them overcome loneliness.

The solution provided by MiiCare™ also falls under the category of ‘disruptive technologies’ with unprecedented potential of transforming the current care provision model, by empowering individuals to take more control of their own health and well-being.