CrossSense has been announced as the winner of the Longitude Prize on Dementia, on 18 March 2026. Being awarded this £1 million prize is an honour for our team after years of uncertainty. We offer our regards to our formidable competitors and hope all finalists succeed in bringing their work to market.
This award recognises Wispy, our AI-powered smartglasses assistant. We designed Wispy with and for people living with early-stage dementia. The assistant works through lightweight smartglasses to identify everyday objects, guide users through daily activities, and provide gentle cognitive stimulation. Wispy learns each person's unique habits and adapts as their needs change.
A decade in the making
Our moonshot vision started over ten years ago with a simple insight. By connecting different senses, such as linking names with colours or shapes with sounds, the brain can build new pathways or reinforce existing ones. We believed this cross-sensory approach would make the brain more resilient and improve memory for those facing cognitive decline.
At the time, clinical breakthroughs for Alzheimer's disease had stalled and the technology was not ready. We had to wait for smartglasses and AI to become light and powerful enough to make our approach practical.
"Our idea, while definitely powerful, felt like a little bit of a moonshot."
The Longitude Prize on Dementia launched in September 2022, challenging innovators worldwide to create technology that could learn from a person living with dementia, adapt as their condition changes, and support them to live independently for longer. From 175 applications, 24 teams were selected as semi-finalists, and in October 2024 we were named one of five finalists on BBC One's The One Show.
Built with, not for
The real breakthrough was trust. As a small, independent R&D company, we initially struggled to connect with dementia communities. It was difficult to access memory cafes to ask people to test brittle prototypes on heavy glasses. We were anxious and unable to prove our experimental ideas would work.
People living with dementia and their brilliant carers did not dismiss CrossSense as another tech solution. They invited us into their lives and shaped the tool with us. They grounded our research in their everyday challenges and creativity, proving that supporting independence is the key to supporting cognitive resilience.
"Team demonstrated a compelling combination of technical ambition, strong leadership, and clear potential for real-world impact."
Professor Julia Simner at the University of Sussex has driven the research behind the product since we joined the competition. We now have the initial evidence to show that CrossSense improves memory and quality of life. In our study, 3 in 4 participants experienced clinically significant quality of life improvements. Evaluations confirm improvements in object naming, visual-spatial understanding, and working memory.
What comes next
We are committed to bringing CrossSense to market within the next year. We are currently working on further studies while preparing to launch as soon as possible. Every day counts.
Pilot sign-up promo
Thank you
Our deepest thanks go to the Challenge Works team, the Alzheimer's Society, and Innovate UK. We received vital guidance from the NIHR HealthTech Research Centres and the ICO Regulatory Sandbox. We thank Milly Gaskin from the Leading Lives care co-operative in Suffolk and the organisations delivering care in difficult-to-reach communities.
We are grateful for the support of Join Dementia Research and the experts who guided us. Our thanks go to the co-operators at CoTech and Space4 co-working space in Finsbury Park for hosting our company for many years. We also thank the surrounding eateries for nourishing our team consistently during that time.
Finally, we thank our loved ones, families, and friends for staying with the struggle. Most importantly, we thank every person living with dementia who volunteered for co-design sessions and user testing. Your curiosity and courage shaped CrossSense.
The journey of wonder continues.