Funding
Smplicare
Edinburgh-based startup Smplicare has secured £750,000 in funding to explore the use of wearable technologies to predict the risk of falls and other age-related health issues.
Provided by UKRI and a host of private investors, the funding will enable Smplicare to embark on one of the UK’s largest research projects involving AI, wearables and older adults.
As part of the study, 300 individuals over 55 years old with a history of falls will be given a mainstream wearable device, such as Fitbit, Garmin or Polar.
Using activity data from the wearable devices, Smplicare will create an AI-powered algorithm that can predict the likelihood of a future fall.
Garrett Sprague, CEO & Co-founder of Smplicare, commented: “People often say ‘older adults don’t use technology’. That’s just not true anymore. Technology spending for adults over 65 – including wearables – exploded during the pandemic, up 350% by some estimates. It’s not that older people don’t use technology – the reality is that they have a low tolerance…
