Having already worked in partnership with Lancaster University, eBusiness UK, a Lancashire based digital company knew the University had fully-funded support available to businesses.

Co-founder Kam Kothia said: “I was not surprised when I found out there was help available to us, but it was great to learn that this opportunity was the perfect fit, it really suited our business needs at that specific time.”

Following over 20 years of success offering web design, e-commerce and digital marketing services to SMEs in Lancashire, family run eBusiness UK had reached a point where it was time to pivot their e-commerce business with a view to building a sustainable brand.

“Following some business analysis we were able to establish that a good proportion of our sales were for our smart home security cameras, and further research showed that over 10% of these purchases were by people like myself, individuals with elderly, vulnerable parents. These customers were purchasing indoor security cameras to monitor the wellbeing of their loved ones.”

“We realised that there was a significant market here for smart home security products, and started building a portfolio of products to cater to this need. The trouble was none of these products were a perfect fit for effective monitoring of vulnerable people in the home. In some instances a lack of privacy was a big concern, but the main problem was that there was no intelligent alert system that would automatically notify carers of any problems detected, and carers would need to proactively log on to view the cameras on a regular basis to carry out welfare checks” Kam explained.

eBusiness UK decided to explore ideas which could form a solution to this problem. The team theorised that a smart home security camera coupled with AI machine learning could potentially identify problems in the home and trigger an alert.

To bring this idea to life eBusiness UK approached Lancaster University’s Health Innovation team, seeking support to develop a proof of concept.

“The chance to work with the University was great because it wasn’t just that we had fully-funded support, it was also that partnering with Lancaster University came with a level of prestige and kudos which was really important to us.”

In collaboration with the University's developers the team decided the software must recognise the face of the monitored individual, identify family and friends, and importantly identify unwelcome intruders. Emotion detection was also key, as this could raise the alarm if the individual appears unwell, confused or upset. Most importantly, the platform also needed to understand patterns of behaviour so that the presence of any anomalies would be recognised and raise the alarm. For example, if a monitored person normally wakes up at a particular time, an alert could be generated if the person was not seen around that time.

Kam explained, “The University developed the proof of concept using a range of AI tools including Amazon’s Web Services platform which could identify persons, emotions and detect anomalies. The developers gave us a demonstration proving the idea could work – and we were really impressed. This gave us a great deal of confidence to embark on the next stage which is to build a prototype.”

During this time eBusiness UK attended a fully-funded two-day health innovation workshop themed on Dementia, also delivered by Lancaster University.

Kam said, “Before progressing any further I wanted to improve my knowledge around elderly care and dementia. It was great that the workshop offered such a unique opportunity to chat to a variety of health and care professionals in a relaxed setting. I learned more about the condition and it gave me even more confidence in the value of our concept.”

Since attending the Dementia workshop the team at eBusiness UK are now scoping out if they can introduce real time fall detection and voice activated SOS alerts. Kam learned that falls in the home are not always reported quickly enough and patients can often be unable, or reluctant to seek help. Once the prototype is complete E-Business plan to carry out some non-clinical trials, placing the product in homes to get some valuable feedback on how effective it is.

“We are currently writing proposals for funding to bring this product to life. We believe that our concept is technology for good and are confident it will have a positive impact on people's lives. Plus, since it is a learning system the more data it processes the better it will become.”

Health innovation business support from Lancaster University is fully funded through the European Regional Development Fund and available to Lancashire-based SMEs (eligibility criteria applies). To find out more about health innovation business support visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/health-innovation/business or contact business.healthinnovation@lancaster.ac.uk