“We can’t really talk about longevity when our children are not in a good condition to grow themselves.” Muhammed Azzamulhaq
So is the statement in the short Uma Tumbuh Sehat video,one of eight finalists in theStanford Longevity Design Challenge 13th edition. Though this was my personal first choice, it did not make the top three when winners were announced on April 14th. Back in February this joint entry from the UK’s Royal College of Art & Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung caught my attention – a program that tackles the issue of child stunting in rural Indonesia through nutrition education.
As the Design Challenge has evolved since 2013/14, the diversity range of subjects and the scope of the longevity themes have adopted a life course approach, not merely focused on the needs of those already older, and this year is a prime example of that move. With the 2025/26 theme Prevention by Design: Creating Healthy Lifestyles for Long Livesyou will note that many kinds of people are covered with various health conditions, considering age, gender, culture and economic status.
By the way, finalists including Uma Tumbuh Sehat do receive a $1,000 cash prize with access to mentorship from industry experts and researchers, but in this 2025/26 edition the 1st place winner for the $10K award went to a student team at the University of Texas in Austin – PhoroVis– a cost -based phoropter or refactor alternative that determines eye prescriptions and addresses the disparity in access to eye exams such as in remote rural areas.
My second “people’s choice” as it were – Neevel actually did come in 2nd place, awarded $5K. Lifting in part from its LinkedIn page, “Neevel is a screen free fall prevention system… combining sensor insoles that passively track gait metrics with a wall powered hub that works as a nightlight, a voice guided balance coach, and a simple weekly progress display… built to be used without smartphones or complex smart devices, making preventive care more accessible for older users.”
Neevel is a Brazilian design team from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul & the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. Completing the trio of winners, with a $2K award in 3rd place came a team from theBirla Institute of Technology and Science India with Shenergy – a school-based preventive health program that will help young girls lower long-term PCOS risk.
In closing as we wrap up this year’s Stanford Design Challenge, speaking of 3rd place, my choice for that was the team from Singapore Management University & the National University of Singapore – Decisio – an app designed to help young people with ADHD to reduce cognitive overload. Of course, even those at any age with or without ADHD could use some help with this in an age of information overload coming from our perpetual use of digital devices.
Again, it was a remark from the Decisio presentation video made by team member Rushil Srinath that caught my ear and made me think in a broader sense about our approach to envisioning the promise of a longevity society: “Longevity is going to start with mental clarity.”
