“I won’t be so curmudgeonly as my predecessor was” (Image: Anne Katrin Purkiss/Rex)

Martin Rees explains why he’s helping to revive the 18th-century Longitude prize for innovation – and why it’s far tougher to pick today’s big challenge

You are helping to recreate the centuries-old Longitude prize. What is it?

It’s a £10 million challenge prize to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the original prize created by the Longitude Act in 1714. To navigate safely and accurately, sailors of the day desperately needed to be able to measure longitude– their east-west position on the Earth’s surface. The prize was for £20,000, most of which was eventually won by clockmaker John Harrison, who devised a shipboard chronometer.

What’s the big challenge this time?

In the 1700s there was one obvious technical challenge. Now the world is far more complicated. Moreover, there are many challenge prizes, especially in the US. For a single, high-profile UK prize, our group of experts identified six areas with scope for low-cost technological innovation.


What’s on the shortlist?

Easing the plight of dementia sufferers, exploring the possibility of low-carbon powered flight, helping feed the 9 billion people that may be on the planet by mid-century, giving greater mobility to those affected by paralysis, providing clean, fresh water for those who lack it, and tackling the problem of antibiotic resistance.

We focused on these because we needed a challenge where small groups can participate, many approaches can be pursued and the public can follow what is being done.

Who decides which of those six will become the final challenge?

On 22 May there will be a special episode of the BBC science show Horizon describing those six challenges in depth. That will be followed by a public vote to choose one of these, with the result of that vote announced in late June. NESTA, the innovation charity which runs the prize, will then work with scientists and others until September, when the final details of the chosen challenge will be released (you can vote at bbc.co.uk/horizon and find out more at longitudeprize.org).

Who can try to solve the chosen challenge?

It will be open to anyone in the world. There may be some strings attached to intellectual property that might result, because we hope that inventions prompted by the prize will benefit the UK in the longer term.

Why design a prize and not just stick to traditional research funding?

It seems that for about a thousandth of the total the UK spends on R&D, we can perhaps make some innovations beneficial to large numbers of people happen faster than they otherwise would.

In the 18th century, the astronomer royal of the day dragged his feet over Harrison’s chronometer. It took decades to get him his reward. Are we in for the long haul again?

I won’t be so curmudgeonly as my predecessor was. Once the final details of the challenge are released in September, competitors will have five years to find the winning innovation.

Profile Martin Rees is the UK’s astronomer royal and heads the committee overseeing the Longitude prize 2014. The prize is developed and run by the innovation foundation NESTA, with funding from the Technology Strategy Board

This article will appear in print under the headline “Eyes on the prize”