Alzheimer’s Society has launched its first ever Launchpad Cohort, supporting 12 innovative projects tackling hospital-related challenges faced by people with dementia. From AI memory tools to hospital discharge aids, these ideas aim to improve care, reduce distress, and empower both patients and caregivers. The initiative is part of the Society’s wider push for person-centred innovation.

Dr Emma Williams, founder of emwillcare, joined the Business Wales Start-Up Accelerator to scale her dementia care venture. The 12-week programme helped her refine strategy, build confidence, and explore funding. Combining behavioural science with smart tech, EmWill Care empowers caregivers with practical tools to improve lives—aiming to become a global leader in evidence-based dementia care.

Less Distress is a new digital tool from emwillcare, launching in 2025, that uses behavioural science, smart tech, and caregiver expertise to predict and prevent distress in dementia care. Created by Dr Emma Williams and backed by the Alzheimer’s Society Launchpad Programme, it aims to shift care from crisis response to person-centred support, improving quality of life for all involved.

Dr Emma Williams, a former carer from Porthmadog, is developing “Less Distress”, an AI platform that analyses behaviour logs to identify triggers and predict dementia distress. She says carers lack dementia training. Backed by Business Wales, Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, it will be trialled in six North Wales care homes.

Business News Wales highlights Dr Emma Williams of Porthmadog, founder of emwillcare, beeing named one of Small Business Britain’s 2026 f:Entrepreneur #IAlso100 top 100 female founders. She’s recognised for building ‘Less Distress’, an AI behaviour-support app for dementia care, plus her training and NHS/care-home collaborations.

emwillcare has won the StartUp For Good Award at the 2026 Wales UK StartUp Awards. The judges recognised Less Distress for addressing a clear social need in dementia care by helping carers identify patterns, triggers and early warning signs before distress escalates. The regional win took Dr Emma Williams and the team through to the UK national final at Ideas Fest in September.ption goes here

DescriptiDr Emma Williams and Dr Ashley Dysarz presented a Dementia Community webinar exploring what distressed behaviour can communicate, the triggers carers may miss and practical ways to respond before situations escalate. The session also shared developments from Less Distress, emwillcare’s behaviour-support and prediction platform, and concluded with a live question-and-answer discussion for carers and professionals across the dementia-care communityon goes here

Description goes hereCambrian News profiles Dr Emma Williams and Less Distress, the Gwynedd-developed platform designed to help families and care staff understand and prevent distress in dementia care. The feature explains how behavioural science and AI can help carers identify patterns and unmet needs, and highlights emwillcare’s Wales StartUp For Good win and selection to represent Wales at the Interceltic Startup Challenge in France.

Descriptiemwillcare was selected to represent Wales at the 2026 Interceltic Startup Challenge, joining six regional winners from across the Celtic nations in Lorient, France. Dr Emma Williams pitched Less Distress to investors, business leaders and economic-development experts, while the Interceltic Business Forum published an interview exploring the platform’s origins, its person-centred approach to dementia distress and the team’s ambitions for international growth.on goes here

BusinessCloud’s Founder Friday interview profiles Dr Emma Williams and the journey behind Less Distress, from decades of work in health and social care to building an AI-enabled behaviour-support platform. Emma discusses the platform’s specialist behavioural knowledge, progress from beta testing into real-world implementation, plans for care-home rollout and wider integration, and why a globally ambitious health-technology company can be built from rural North Wales.ion goes here

Dr Emma Williams has been named a finalist for the Social Enterprise Women’s Champion Award at the 2026 Social Business Awards Wales. Organised by Cwmpas, the category recognises outstanding female leadership within social enterprise. Emma was shortlisted for her work leading emwillcare and developing Less Distress, combining behavioural science and AI to improve how distress is understood and supported in dementia care.ion goes here