A £20 million research hub led by the University of Exeter will build ten brain health clinics across the UK, using artificial intelligence to detect dementia earlier and cut diagnosis waiting times.

The BRAINIAC Hub — AI and Emerging Technologies for Next Generation Brain Health Clinics — is funded by £10 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, plus £10 million from industry, charity and NHS partners. It brings together 11 universities and ten NHS sites over six years, with the first clinics expected to open via NHS referral in 2029.

Diagnosis before symptoms

The hub aims to halve diagnosis times, making assessment 30 to 50 per cent faster. It aims to identify more than 40 per cent of those assessed at the early-risk stage, before symptoms develop, when prevention and treatment help most.

Around 982,000 people in the UK live with dementia, projected to reach 1.4 million by 2040, when the annual cost is expected to more than double to £90 billion. Around a third of people with dementia have never received a diagnosis, and many of those referred wait months to be seen.

BRAINIAC will develop AI combining blood biomarkers, brain imaging, genetics, health records and digital cognitive assessments into a single picture of a person's brain health. The technology will be developed and tested inside the ten clinics, involving more than 1,700 patients, rather than built in a laboratory first.

Hub director Professor David Llewellyn said the hardest problem was detecting the earliest changes, so clinicians know who can benefit from treatment. The hub will also train more than 200 clinicians and engineers and support 10 to 20 small companies bringing new technologies into the NHS.