The original 1714 Longitude Prize sought to find a solution to one of the great challenges of the day – how to pinpoint a ship’s location at sea by knowing its longitude. 300 years on, Longitude 2014 was formed with the aim to catalyse an ‘ideas race’ for innovations that solve publically important challenges.

A public dialogue was commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – which later merged with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to become the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – and Nesta, with the support of Sciencewise. The public dialogue explored public views on Longitude 2014 including final prize challenges, prize challenge selection criteria and achieving public engagement.

Between September 2013 and June 2014, 32 members of the public participated in workshops in three locations across the UK (Leeds, Cambridge and London). The public dialogue was delivered by Ipsos MORI and independently evaluated by Sarah de Tufo Evaluation Associates.

The findings, combined with the insight of experts, influenced the criteria used to select the prize challenges and shaped the ways in which the public could engage with Longitude 2014.