Longitude Prize 2014 is a £10 million prize fund commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Longitude Act (1714) when the British government threw down the gauntlet to solve one of the great scientific challenges of that century: how to pinpoint a ship’s location at sea by knowing its longitude.The British public voted for antibiotic resistance to be the focus of the Longitude Prize 2014. The race is now on to develop a transformative point-of-care test that will identify when antibiotics are needed and, if they are, which ones to use.
The test must:
· Be accurate to inform treatment decisions
· Be affordable to everyone who needs it
· Provide a result within thirty minutes
· Be easy to use in any location, anywhere in the world
Competitors have up to five years to find a solution, with regular submission deadlines. The winner of the Longitude Prize could be selected at any stage throughout the five year period.
Simultaneously, the Prize will be running an award for early-stage, promising developments called the Longitude Discovery Award. This award will provide support to competitors who need it to develop their ideas.
More information and full criteria is available at http://www.longitudeprize.org
