In the run up to London Tech Week, AZoSensors spoke with Simon Lord, Alzheimer’s Society's Head of Innovation, to explore how emerging technologies—especially sensor-based solutions—are being used to improve dementia care.
In this conversation, Simon shares how Alzheimer’s Society is driving progress through investment, collaboration, and support for innovators tackling real-world challenges in dementia care. From AI-powered monitoring to wearable tech that enhances patient dignity, the discussion highlights both the promise and complexity of innovation in this critical health space.
How is Alzheimer’s Society approaching innovation in the dementia space, particularly when it comes to emerging technologies and scientific solutions?
Alzheimer’s Society runs a series of business support and investment programs to help bring new products and solutions for people affected by dementia to market.
Welcome: The dementia guide
Our Launchpad program focuses on turning exciting new ideas into investment-ready businesses. Our Accelerator programme provides both investment and bespoke business support to companies with ideas that are closer to being ready for market.
The Dementia Innovators cohort we have built in partnership with the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme has also been designed to support innovators from clinical and social work backgrounds or related products to turn their experience of working on the frontline into solutions that can transform the system from within.
The products we’ve supported have reached over 110,000 people affected by dementia so far. Companies that have been through our Accelerator programme have received millions of pounds of follow-on grant-funding and investment from organisations interested in developing their products.
We have also co-funded the Longitude Prize on Dementia, which focuses on transformational AI and machine learning solutions to help people live independently for longer and continue to engage in meaningful activities. This global prize received 175 high-quality applications from around the world, provided seed funding to 24 semi-finalists, and an extra £300k of funding to five finalists who are now competing for a £1m grand prize that will be awarded in March 2026.
What are some of the key challenges in dementia care that sensor-based technologies are uniquely positioned to address?
People living with dementia often don’t receive effective monitoring after they’ve been diagnosed. There’s a real lack of tools to track and support day-to-day management, and care is often reactive, not proactive, so issues are not dealt with until a crisis point is reached.
Sensor-based technologies are an excellent answer to this problem as they can identify changes in cognitive or physical well-being, which allows caregivers to make interventions if needed.
We’re supporting several products like this which will help families with the day-to-day care of their loved one, enabling close monitoring to avoid issues like dehydration and helping to prevent avoidable hospital admissions, easing pressure on the NHS.
From your perspective, what are some of the technical or ethical considerations when implementing sensor systems in a dementia care context?
Maintaining privacy for people living with dementia is essential and should be kept at the forefront of mind during any consideration around care. Consent from the person living with dementia is also important; this can become harder as the condition progresses.
Too many products make it obvious that the person living with dementia requires additional support in some way, exacerbating the frustration that is often felt by people with dementia.
Alzheimer’s Society ensures that people living with dementia are at the heart of the development process for all the products in our programs. Through our Innovation Collective, all innovators are held to account through the development of their product.
Image Credit: Orawan Pattarawimonchai/Shutterstock.com
You’ve worked with a range of innovators—can you highlight any standout sensor-driven solutions from your portfolio that are making a measurable difference?
Three interesting sensor innovations from three of our programmes:
- From our Launchpad programme, Sereeva uses affordable smart home sensors, such as smart plugs, motion detectors, door monitors, and climate sensors. Sereeva enables caregivers to monitor daily activity patterns remotely via a user-friendly app. This system tracks essential activities, like kitchen appliance use, home movements, door openings, and bathroom habits, creating a baseline routine and alerting caregivers to deviations that may indicate health issues. For example, unusual bathroom activity could suggest a UTI, while decreased kitchen use might signal reduced meal preparation. This proactive alert system allows families to address potential concerns early. Sereeva is affordable, reliable, and easy to set up, requiring no professional installation.
- From our Accelerator programme, Milbotix has designed a sensor integrated into a sock: SmartSocks®, which is designed to be more usable and better tolerated by people with a neurological disorder than a conventional wrist-worn device. They look and feel like regular socks, designed to fit into an individual's daily life without drawing unwanted attention or requiring significant behaviour change. The socks continuously monitor vital signs and gait, alerting carers, friends or family to changes in physiological data, which suggest that a person might be emotionally distressed. The foot is also a better location for measuring electrodermal activity than the wrist, meaning SmartSocks® can measure the body’s signals more accurately than a wrist-worn device.
- And, from our Longitude Prize finalists, SuperSense has created a sensor solution that helps maintain privacy whilst delivering independence. SenS2 is a 4G-enabled digital hub placed in the home of a person living with dementia, enabling them to connect with caregivers and family, and maintain their independence for longer. The single-device remote monitoring service is simple to install and use, is not dependent on wearables, and does not use intrusive cameras or microphones. It delivers insights in plain language, allowing carers to understand subtle shifts in daily needs and to plan appropriate, timely care interventions. SenS2 spots missing medications, wandering, and broken heating in the depths of winter.
Interoperability is often a barrier to adoption. How important is integration with other digital health systems when evaluating new sensor-based solutions?
From a user perspective, it’s not a huge challenge, as with many innovations, the earlier adopters have the drive and inclination to make a product work, if it solves a problem for them. Cost and service are stronger drivers in the business-to-consumer market.
For solutions used in care and clinical settings, it becomes more of an issue when staff are short on time, as having to use multiple systems concurrently is not realistic. Also, the training of staff, especially in sectors where retention is a challenge, can be a blocker to the adoption of new technologies – any system that requires a degree of support to use will be questioned in terms of the best use of resource and that’s why a real focus of our programmes is around ensuring products fit well within working systems and address known pain points.
About Simon Lord
Simon Lord is a driven and delivery-focused innovation specialist working as the Head of Innovation at Alzheimer's Society. In this role, he heads up the award-winning Alzheimer's Society Innovation Team, which works to deliver rapid solutions for the day-to-day challenges faced by people affected by dementia through our sprint projects.
This also involves running the Alzheimer's Society Accelerator Programme, investing in and helping to develop breakthrough innovations that will substantially improve the lives of people affected by dementia.
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