SmpliCare - empowering the future of independent ageing

by Startacus Admin

Edinburgh-based startup SmpliCare innovating how we care and age by exploring the use of AI-driven wearables to predict the risk of falls and other age-related health issues

Unfortunately, as we get older, the risks to our health increase, as does the risk of things like falling. In fact, more than half of over-80s fall at least one per year, which can have far more grave consequences than it would have when they were 30. As well as the obvious fact that it would be good to prevent people getting hurt, these falls and similar incidents actually cost the NHS over £4.4 billion every year, adding additional stress to an already overworked staff and stretched budget. So it’s not exactly controversial to say that finding a way of preventing age-related incidents like falling would be a good thing.

Edinburgh-based healthtech startup SmpliCare has been working on a way of doing just that. They are researching the use of AI-driven wearables for older people that will be capable of predicting falls and alerting the wearer.

As well as this, they will collect data on body composition, digital inclusion, and behaviour change, which could be used to help individuals and provide further insights on this demographic. The data gathered from this research will assist in the creation of more tools to assist people in maintaining more independence as they get older, as well as better managing their health and their personal safety.

300 people over 55-years-old and with a history of a recent fall will be provided with a wearable device (e.g a Fitbit) that will collect the data for the study. SmpliCare is assisted in this huge research undertaking by a team of data scientists at Scotland’s innovation centre for data science and AI, The Data Lab, which will analyse the research data and validate the startup’s AI models. 

In August, SmpliCare was given funding of £750,000 for this research by UK Research & Innovation and some private investors, which will go a long way to building the platform and improving the lives of our older population.

Smplicare is also one of the innovative businesses that we recntly highlighted as it is taking part in this year's AI Accelerator at the University of Edinburgh’s world-leading Innovation Hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Bayes Centre.

It is therefore a startup that is most certanly worth watching!

 

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• #healthtech
• #startup
• #scotland
• #wearables
• #digital
• #ageing
• #innovation

Published on: 15th September 2022