Who we worked with
Horowhenua District Council and Electra
What we did together
Coached the Swell team through the GovTech Accelerator
Skills
Lean, Market validation
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“Virtual healthcare assistant for the elderly piques interest” – RNZ
New Zealand’s over-65 population is going to double in the next 10 years. The current approach to delivering care for this community across a range of complex health issues simply will not cope.
The Horowhenua District Council and Electra put a team together and asked us to help them solve this important challenge.
How we did it
SWELL (Senior Wellness Project) took part in the NZ GovTech Accelerator in 2019. The project was put forward by the Horowhenua District Council and Electra.
The team’s challenge was to explore how today’s emerging technology can revolutionise the way people take control of their well-being in their senior years. A key finding of their research was that older people struggled to access services and many experienced poor customer service.
The result
It was with the voices of older people in mind that the team developed a solution using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The solution is centred around a custom avatar accessed through a smart television, which is connected to an ongoing wellbeing assessment tool. This platform allows NZ’s seniors to access the care and support they require at a time that works for them, allowing them to age independently, with dignity, in their own home and improve their overall wellbeing. Not only can the technology improve the wellbeing of some of the country’s most vulnerable, but it’s estimated it could save the country up to $760 million over the next 10 years by helping to reduce acute bed days in hospitals.
