AI-Powered Smart Glasses Win £1M Longitude Prize for Helping People with Dementia Live Independently

CrossSense, an AI-powered assistant built into lightweight smart glasses, has been awarded the £1 million grand prize in the Longitude Prize on Dementia — a global challenge led by Challenge Works and funded by Alzheimer's Society and Innovate UK. The technology helps people living with early-stage dementia maintain independence by identifying everyday objects and guiding them through daily activities.

The smart glasses work by assigning digital representations to elements in the physical environment, superimposing words and voice reminders to connect objects to their functions and other important information. In collaboration with the user, the system learns their unique routines and preferences, adapting its support as their condition progresses over time.

“The technology helps people living with early-stage dementia maintain independence by identifying everyday objects and guiding them through daily activities.”

At the heart of CrossSense is an AI companion called Wispy, which communicates through gentle prompts rather than intrusive alerts. Wispy understands and learns each person's individual way of doing things — from how they prepare their morning tea to which route they take to the garden. This personalized approach ensures that the technology feels supportive rather than clinical, maintaining the user's sense of agency and dignity.

The glasses underwent extensive community co-design and testing with people living with dementia and their caregivers. This collaborative development process ensured that the technology addresses real needs rather than assumptions about what people with dementia might find helpful. Feedback from users during testing was overwhelmingly positive, with many reporting increased confidence in performing daily tasks independently.

CrossSense plans to use the prize money to accelerate research and make the device publicly available within the next year. The company is working on scaling production while maintaining the quality and personalization that made the glasses effective in testing. The technology represents a shift in dementia care philosophy — from managing decline to actively supporting capability and independence.

With an estimated 55 million people worldwide living with dementia and numbers expected to nearly triple by 2050, technologies like CrossSense could transform the daily experience of millions. By helping people remain in their homes longer and reducing the burden on caregivers, the smart glasses offer both human and economic benefits that extend far beyond their immediate users.