Science in Parliament Vol 71 No 4 Autumn 2014 39

Joshua Ryan-SahaLongitude Prize at Nesta

Setting sail on a journey to solve one of the greatest challengesof our time.

This autumn the LongitudePrize 2014 will open forentries and the criteriaoutlining what competitorswill need to do to win theprize will be published. Fromthis moment on anyone,anywhere can take part andhave the chance to win themultimillion pound prize fund.

Getting to this point has beenan exciting journey. From thePrize’s formation to its launchthere has been a tremendousamount of interest andexcitement from the public andwe have received amazingsupport from our partnersInnovate UK (the new name forthe Technology Strategy Board),the BBC, the National MaritimeMuseum, and the ScienceMuseum.

Most people already know thestory of John Harrison – theYorkshire clockmaker who,against the odds, developed themethod to measure longitude atsea. By doing so he changedthe future of Great Britain andthe world. Inspired by this story,Longitude Prize 2014 waslaunched to coincide with the300th anniversary of theLongitude Act.

In the early 18th centuryBritain was a great seafaringnation. However, its position andambition was being challenged.Ships couldn’t accuratelymeasure their location and oftengot lost, resulting in shipwrecksand loss of life.

In 1714 the government cameup with a prize to solve thisproblem. It offered £20,000 for

a solution which could findlongitude to within half a degree(equivalent to two minutes oftime), and the Board ofLongitude was set up to assesssubmissions to the prize andoffer rewards. These expertsincluded the Astronomer Royalat Greenwich and some of thebest scientific, maritime andpolitical minds of the age.

With life-changing rewards onoffer, the challenge became thetalk of London’s thriving coffeehouses. The Board receivedmore than a few weird andwonderful suggestions and thephrase ‘finding the longitude’became a byword for the madpursuits of fools and lunatics.People believed that theproblem simply could not besolved.

Of course it was eventuallysolved, but the answer camefrom an unexpected source withan unexpected method: JohnHarrison and his marinechronometer, the first seafaringclock. Harrison’s chronometersolution led to accurate andsafer navigation that ultimatelyenabled open global trade.

Fast forward 300 years and wenow face a range of differentissues that are equally significantand problematic. Selecting thechallenges for the LongitudePrize 2014 was no easy feat. Itbegan in the summer of 2013with a round table consultation

with over 40 of the country’sleading scientists, engineers, andpoliticians at Number 10Downing Street. Ideas werediscussed under broad themesand the group identified anumber of global challengessuitable for the new LongitudePrize.

These initial ideas weresubjected to multiple rounds ofcritical analysis and deliberationwith the public and over 100scientists and academics acrossa variety of disciplines. Fromthese rounds of research andrefinement and with the supportof the Longitude Committee atevery stage, Nesta developed sixchallenges and they were putforward to the public to voteearlier this year.

THE SIX CHALLENGESWERE:Flight – How can we flywithout damaging theenvironment?

If aircraft carbon emissionscontinue to rise they couldcontribute up to 15 per cent ofglobal warming from humanactivities within 50 years. Thisneeds to be addressed in orderto slow down climate changeand its detrimental effects. Thechallenge was to design andbuild an aeroplane that is asclose to zero carbon as possibleand capable of flying fromLondon to Edinburgh, at a

... may not have come to light within thetraditional funding system ...

Science in Parliament Vol 71 No 4 Autumn 201440

TEN MOST DANGEROUS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA

#longitudeprize www.longitudeprize.org

NEISSERIAGONORRHOEAE

CLOSTRIDIUMDIFFICILE

ACINETOBACTERBAUMANNII

ESCHERICHIACOLI (E.COLI)

STAPHYLOCOCCUSAUREUS (MRSA)

MYCOBACTERIUMTUBERCULOSIS

BURKHOLDERIACEPACIA

KLEBSIELLAPNEUMONIAE

PSEUDOMONASAERUGINOSA

STREPTOCOCCUSPYOGENES

comparable speed to today’saircraft.

Food – How can we ensureeveryone has nutritious,sustainable food?

One in eight people worldwidedoes not get enough food tolive a healthy life. With a growingpopulation and limitedresources, providing everybodywith nutritious, sustainable foodis one of the biggest problemsever faced. The challenge was toinvent the next big foodinnovation, to ensure a futurewhere everyone has enoughnutritious, affordable andenvironmentally sustainablefood.

Antibiotics – How can weprevent the rise of resistanceto antibiotics?

The development of antibioticshas added an average of 20years to our life, yet the rise ofantimicrobial resistance isthreatening to make themineffective. This poses asignificant risk as commoninfections become untreatable.

The challenge was to create anaffordable, accurate, rapid, andeasy-to-use test for bacterialinfections that will allow healthprofessionals worldwide toadminister the right antibiotics atthe right time.

Paralysis – How can werestore movement to thosewith paralysis?

In the UK, a person isparalysed every eight hours.Paralysis can emerge from anumber of different injuries,conditions and disorders and theeffects can be devastating. Everyday can be demanding whenmobility, bowel control, sexualfunction and respiration are lostor impaired. The challenge wasto invent a solution that givesparalysed people close to thesame freedom of movementthat most of us enjoy.

Water – How can we ensureeveryone can have access tosafe and clean water?

Water is becoming anincreasingly scarce resource.

Forty-four per cent of the world’spopulation and 28 per cent ofthe world’s agriculture are inregions of the world wherewater is scarce. The challengewas to alleviate the growingpressure on the planet’s freshwater by creating a cheap,environmentally sustainabledesalination technology.

Dementia – How can we helppeople with dementia to liveindependently for longer?

It is likely that 135 millionpeople will suffer from dementiaby 2050. This will mean a hugepersonal and financial cost tosociety. With no cure, we needto find ways to support aperson’s dignity, physical andemotional wellbeing. Thechallenge was to developintelligent, affordabletechnologies that couldrevolutionise care for peoplewith dementia, enabling them tolive independent lives.

At the end of June 2014, theBritish public chose antibiotics tobe the focus of the Longitude

Prize. Over the summer wehave been consulting withscientists, academics andexperts to define the criteria thatwill explain what competitors willneed to do win the prize.

We hope that teams andindividuals from a range ofbackgrounds will compete; afterall, what makes challenges likethe Longitude Prize unique isthat they are open to anyone.They reward people who solve apre-defined problem. Theyencourage and solicit entriesfrom a broad, and possiblyunlikely, range of sources thatcan pursue the development ofideas which may not have cometo light within the traditionalfunding system.

Everyone has a chance to beinvolved in solving one oftoday’s greatest challenges. Ifyou want to find out moreplease go towww.longitudeprize.org.