COVID Clear View
As COVID-19 sweeps the globe, people have no way of knowing their transmission risk in daily activities, leaving people anxious and afraid. While numerous smartphone apps have launched to warn users of COVID-19 exposure, current options are flawed: reactive, inaccurate, and ethically questionable. Using artificial intelligence, VISIMO has created a risk prediction app that provides users with real-time, personalized risk prediction scores. Combining nonidentifiable personal data with data bases like Google places, the app can even provide risk levels for different options, such as choosing to eat in a restaurant versus a picnic in the park. The app will be launched in multiple language iterations that will be tailored for cultural relevancy around the globe. Using our app, users will understand the risk level of day-to-day options before making decisions. This will enable users to control disease spread, ultimately saving lives around the world.
As the latest in a series of pandemic novel viruses spreads, people are left guessing when it comes to their personal risk. Some are choosing intense isolation, which experts warn may increase anxiety and suicide. Others think risk has been over exaggerated, choosing to ignore social distancing measures and putting themselves and their communities in danger. To reduce COVID-related harm, people need access to fast, personalized risk information to help them make informed decisions.
While smartphone apps have developed to meet this need, current options are flawed with significant legal, ethical, and statistical concerns. Most apps currently on the market rely on contact tracing, where users input their symptoms into the app, and then other users are warned if they get close. There are significant problems with this model: (1) it requires users to divulge sensitive health information, (2) it does not address asymptomatic individuals (25 to 45 percent of total cases), and (3) it is reactive. Reactive viral tracking is extremely limited, only alerting users after they are already exposed. This is ineffective at slowing viral spread and enabling individuals to make informed choices.
COVID Clear View will provide users with fast, accessible, personalized risk predictions for COVID-19 infection. At its core, the app will take current data from a variety of sources that are specific to the user’s location, and it will use advanced simulation and AI methods to calculate location-aware risk scores. The risk score also adjusts to the user’s health state, behaviors, and other baseline risk factors. In addition to individualized risk scores, the app will also serve as a suggestion engine, providing CDC-approved recommendations for risk mitigating actions.
Our solution prioritizes privacy. User data collected through surveys will be de-identified and confidential. Data will be used to anonymously query the application’s backend servers, which are responsible for risk calculation.
The VISIMO app is a prediction, assessment, and intervention tool, using novel application of AI and stochastic disease modeling to provide users with accurate information and ultimately control viral spread. While initially focused on COVID-19, the app could easily be extended to future novel viruses.
In the last four years, global smartphone usage has increased by 40 percent, and use continues to grow steadily, particularly in developing nations and among low-income groups. Today, 45 percent of the world’s total population uses smartphones. Given COVID-19’s world-wide spread, every smartphone user is a member of our target population. Given the app’s goal of controlling spread, non-smartphone users will also benefit through the responsible and risk-appropriate actions of their neighbors on the app.
With the mission of human-centered technology, VISIMO is committed to the global relevancy of this app, particularly for underprivileged and excluded communities. The app will be piloted in English, Spanish, and Nepali among residents in Allegheny Country, PA. Cultural considerations are crucial to the success of the app. In partnership with Global Wordsmiths and Jewish Family and Community Services, organizations heavily involved with diaspora populations in Pittsburgh, we will elicit feedback from these communities, taking their suggestions and modifying the app before full public rollout. Modification will include questions relevant to cultural lifestyles, sensitivity to discussing personal health information, visualizations to aid low-literacy populations, combatting the "infodemic” of misinformation in these communities, and adaptations of CDC recommended precautions relevant to different populations.
When launched, COVID Clear View will be the first predictive COVID-19 risk assessment app available to the public, moving away from the strictly reactive applications available today. As a prediction tool, the app detects warning signs of future spread, enabling the general public, as well as leaders, to make informed, rapid-response decisions to eliminate risk and control viral spread. The app will be available to the global public, with iterations designed specifically to include disadvantaged and traditionally excluded communities.
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community
- A new application of an existing technology
There are two app trends most comparable to our solution: contact tracing and symptom tracking. Contact tracing is implemented by using Bluetooth or GPS to detect physical proximity between users. This model has significant ethical and technical flaws, as it communicates private health information with other users and is often not sensitive enough for the small distance (less than two meters) that constitutes exposure between users. Despite flaws, the public’s interest in this type of product is high. Germany's Corona-Warn app was downloaded 6.5 million times in its first week of availability. A growing number of symptom-tracking apps are designed to collect self-reported symptom data, recommending testing if the estimated likelihood of infection meets a threshold.
However, these apps are strictly reactive, only warning users AFTER they develop symptoms or encounter a known carrier. Additionally, popular symptom tracking apps do not make use of precise geographical data to give accurate risk assessment, or account for the likelihood of exposure to asymptomatic people.
To our knowledge, no apps have leveraged the predictive power of artificial intelligence effectively by combining location data and self-report/survey data. Our app avoids technical and ethical problems inherent in fine-grained location tracking. Instead, it leverages techniques from AI and statistical mechanics to make early and accurate predictions. VISIMO’s risk prediction technology is currently utilized in another live application designed by the company, and it has been adapted to model COVID-19 transmission for this solution.
The core technology behind our app is a stochastic simulation engine that calculates COVID-19 related risk scores. Population-level data are used to establish the user’s baseline risk, which can be extended into the future to make predictions. Individual factors reported by the user are updated regularly via unobtrusive surveys and are used to shift the risk score.
Our novel approach to calculating risk requires integration of structured and unstructured data sources at the population level. Given a user’s zip code, the system combines traditional data, such as population density, with web scraped data, such as the level of foot traffic, as a function of location category.
In the stochastic simulations, individuals (symptomatic, asymptomatic, and negative) are represented as moving points contained within defined regions, and transmission is a function of distance. By running thousands of variations, we obtain distributional measures of disease spread that reflect the user’s community structure and social trends. We distill this information for users into a score ranging from 0-100, enabling understanding of infection likelihood. Our method enables multiple scores to be computed simultaneously, so different risk scores are displayed for each type of place (high risk for stores, low for residences), or even with or without mitigating strategies (mask vs. no mask). In addition, we will also calculate a user’s likelihood of spreading COVID-19 to others, further encouraging risk mitigation.
The core simulation and predictive technologies that make our app unique have strong theoretical support in the epidemiology literature, particularly as models of transmission of pandemic influenza (for additional research click here). Our simulation engine resembles the simulation strategy of Ferguson and colleagues who also demonstrated the feasibility of predicting large-scale effects of localized interventions (e.g. mask wearing), provided that the model is parameterized correctly.
VISIMO has already developed a web app that calculates risk scores and suggests appropriate risk mitigating actions. That app, which has over 100 active users in the construction industry, provides safety contractors with access to real-time risk estimates. That app also provides options for logging of COVID-19 symptoms, acting as a functional prototype that we will modify for the pilot of our proposed app.
- Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
- Big Data
- Crowdsourced Service / Social Networks
- GIS and Geospatial Technology
- Software and Mobile Applications
VISIMO will provide the COVID-19 risk assessment app to the public, while targeting organization leaders for a top-down implementation model. Governments have failed to utilize available contact tracing apps. Private networks are stepping up to help reduce spread in their communities through apps, as has been done in the past to promote exercise and healthy eating. Thus, while available to the public, VISIMO will aim for a top-down model for saturation among target populations.
Users will input personal data and update the app as their activities change. Leaders will encourage use in their organizations. Market demand from individuals is high. RADAR COVID-19, one of the first symptom tracking apps on the market, had 1.6 million users in the first week. Our app is the first with AI predictive assessment, and will fill a market gap.
Users will receive a personalized, real-time risk score of contracting COVID-19 as well as spreading it.
Users will be knowledgeable about their individual, real-time risk level, and leaders will incorporate risk prediction results into the daily management of their organizations.
Users will adapt their behaviors according to these risk levels. Research shows that using apps to provide people with an accurate assessment of how they compare to others can change their health-related behavior. Additionally, Leaders will incorporate risk prediction results into the daily management of their organizations.
Spread will be controlled, reducing infection and COVID-19 related death. Related death also includes suicides due to increased anxiety and depression from social distancing. If risk of transmission is minimal, some users may choose greater social interaction. The app will also be adapted to future novel viruses, continuing to save lives. Medical professionals at the forefront of COVID-19 solutions were able to quickly lead the market through work with past, related viruses. Our AI model is no different, and will be at the forefront of the market in future COVID-19 waves and future novel viruses. Leaders will be able to make informed policies at the outset of future COVID-19 waves and/or future novel viruses. Additionally, doctors will be able to map long-term symptoms related to COVID-19.
- Elderly
- Rural
- Peri-Urban
- Urban
- Poor
- Low-Income
- Middle-Income
- Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations
- 3. Good Health and Well-Being
- 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- 10. Reduced Inequalities
- 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
- 16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
- 17. Partnerships for the Goals
- United States
- United States
VISIMO’s current app utilizing risk prediction is used by 108 people. As we adapt the prediction methodology for our proposed solution, our target is to recruit 180 adult users to pilot the COVID-19 application. An important premise of our impact model is that, if app users limit their own transmission likelihood, it also lowers risk for their household members. Given the 4.9 worldwide average household size, the app will benefit 882 people in the first year. After the pilot, our solution will be launched globally, with the intention of increasing language offerings over time. In developed nations, smartphone use among adults is well over 90%. In emerging countries, 32-86% of adults use smartphones. Given that 52% of smartphone users collect health data on their phones, there are hundreds of millions of potential users. Given current inferior apps report millions of downloads within days of launching, with a strategic marketing plan, we estimate that our app can capture a sizable market share. Our goal is to reach five million downloads in five years.
Within one year the app will:
Increase target populations’ access to accurate, personalized information: Our app will deliver personalized and real-time risk scores.
Influence target populations’ actions to positively impact public health: Personalized risk information acts as a behavioral nudge, optimizing both quality of life and transmission outcomes.
Decrease COVID-19 deaths and infection numbers: Individuals can informedly choose to reduce their infection, death, and spread likelihood through app-recommended actions.
Aggregate data to increase prediction accuracy: The more data collected, the more accurate the risk assessment.
Incorporate user feedback to improve features in the public rollout: These adjustments will be tailored to different cultural needs.
Within five years, the app will:
Increase readiness for future novel viruses: This app is adaptable for future novel viruses, and individuals and community leaders will be able to quickly utilize the tool after the first indication of a new virus.
Help medical professionals track the long-term physical health impacts of COVID-19 and other viruses: COVID-19 is shown to impact the central nervous system and internal organs. Thus, long term tracking is needed to understand subsequent health issues.
Aid in risk-assessment for civil authorities: As COVID-19 has proven, data-driven and adaptable public policy is crucial to balancing quality of life and health risks for target populations.
Decrease the infection and death rates from novel viruses: As this app can be adapted to a variety of novel viruses, the app will continue to provide personalized risk assessment to reduce high levels of exposure.
Within the next year, there are several barriers that must be overcome. First, most machine learning and AI algorithms will be of limited value without large scale datasets. One problem is therefore to discover the right sources of data and determine how the data will be used. A second potential barrier will be the need for balancing privacy and effective use of personal data—an issue that has weighed down other COVID-19 tracking apps.
Within five years, our primary challenges arise in the differences in users and data worldwide. We need to modify versions of the app with attention to cultural sensitivity and public health norms. Additionally, Google’s mobility tracking, which is a key component of our app, is not equally accurate throughout the globe. This inaccuracy is due to an imbalance between regions with many active users and regions with few active users. Any solution that uses this dataset must deal with the missing data effectively. Market saturation is an additional challenge. Though our app is novel in its use of predictive technology, there are a number of quickly-made, less useful applications clogging up the space. Thus, VISIMO and partners will need a marketing strategy to increase public use of the application.
To compensate for missing mobility data, we will use a supervised machine learning technique to impute missing values intelligently, making the data look like values from statistically comparable regions.
Our simulation engine will be rule based and will utilize methods from video game engineering like utility-based AI agents. These agents will be able to produce complex behavior patterns, avoiding the need for large datasets about individuals.
To protect user privacy, we will base our simulations on artificial people, made possible by sampling population parameters. Thus, data is generalized and privacy is protected.
The pilot will enable us to determine which questions are most useful in developing accurate risk assessment. We will expand upon the symptom-based questions in our prototype to include psychological/behavioral inventories that are relevant.
The pilot design will help us overcome cultural competency challenges. There will be two user groups per language. One group will use the standard version (though translated), and the other group will use an app prototype modified for cultural competency. Then, data will be compared to identify which questions yielded the most accurate risk predictions, as well as the most user interaction.
VISIMO and partners will push a top-down model to combat market saturation. Targeting organizational leaders who have the platform to promote the app in their networks will supplement individual, organic use of the app.
- For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Salaried, full-time: 8
Hourly: 3
Key staff for the proposed solution:
President/CEO: James Julius has 15+ years of experience leading data analysis and technology implementation teams. After earning his MBA, James established VISIMO to help organizations make better, more informed decisions using data. Linking data analytics to real-world problems led to the company’s key concept: human-centered analytics.
Vice President: Alex Heit has 10+ years of experience building relationships in the public and private sectors. After earning his MPA, he worked in various levels of government agencies in Pittsburgh, PA and in Washington, DC. He drives VISIMO’s connections to the Pittsburgh tech and political communities and recently moderated a panel at the 2019 Pittsburgh Tech and Data Summit (“The Ethical Dilemma of Artificial Intelligence: Issues with Bias and Liability”).
Data Scientist: Dr. Robert Powers received his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and excels at applied R&D. His knowledge of evidence-based practices guides VISIMO's development projects. His abstract “Wearable Sensors for Human Monitoring - Integration of Wearables Data and Subject Matter Expertise in a Military Risk Reduction Setting” was accepted at the 2020 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS).
Grants & Contracts Manager: Emma Lamberton, MID, has worked in numerous communications and fundraising roles for international nonprofits. In 2020, she received the Simon Reich Human Security Research Award from the University of Pittsburgh for her field study on the relationship between gender violence and nationalism in Eurasia. She is a Fulbright Scholar and Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow.
VISIMO has preliminary agreements with Global Wordsmiths (GW) and Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS), Pittsburgh-based nonprofits specializing in translation and cultural competency. Their areas of expertise are crucial to the successful global launch of our app. JFCS works closely with diaspora populations in Pittsburgh and is VISIMO’s point of contact with these populations as required for the pilot. GW provide translations for different versions of the app. GW and JFCS will play a role in the user-interface component of the application—using their cultural sensitivity knowledge to change what questions are asked, or how they are worded, while maintaining the statistical relevance of the end result. Additionally, as some cultures are more communal, and some more individual, JFCS will consult with VISIMO on the persuasive components of the app, which encourage participation in risk-reducing behaviors. GW will also lead feedback collection to modify the app iterations before global launch.
In addition to these local partners, VISIMO is connected with several global tech networks dedicated to open-source research and data collection. We have received approval to use partner datasets and research, CoronaAPI and Innovate Covid, in the development of our application. These network partnerships will allow our team to integrate with the most up-to-date epidemiological models, forecasts, datasets, and social media tools, allowing us to develop and deploy our solution to support researchers and government agencies to mitigate and prevent the spread of COVID-19. We will in turn share our data and research with these partner networks.
VISIMO was founded to be a leader in artificial intelligence, machine learning research, and technology development. VISIMO develops tools, platforms, and algorithms with a human-centered approach. We believe in unique partnerships and strong relationships that allow us to share in the respect, accountability, and transparency needed to successfully innovate and drive great change. VISIMO has successfully leveraged this model in the nonprofit and private sector by developing a proprietary risk calculation and risk mitigation suggestion tool for the construction industry, the foundation for the proposed solution. VISIMO provides innovative solutions to problems identified by clients and is trusted by small nonprofits and national government entities alike as a trustworthy and quality partner. VISIMO wants to continue growing as a commercial entity by focusing on developing tools and applications for at-risk and often overlooked populations. With our technical skills and our ability to build relationships, we are eager to commercialize new applications and solutions.
- Organizations (B2B)
VISIMO has developed an extensive financial model for our products. We have strong revenue growth from innovative products for clients as well as applying our research and services to human-focused R&D contracts. We anticipate increasing our R&D contracts throughout 2020 and beyond while continuing to see growth in our private sector work as well.
The company has secured partnerships and strategic alliances to promote commercialization of past products, and has the network to do so for the proposed solution product as well. Moving forward, the company will use a combination of federal funding, partnerships, and grants. Funding will be used to complete the development of the proposed solution product, secure further intellectual property protection, scale manufacturing, and develop marketing relationships to promote and distribute the product.
We want our proposed solution to be used as widely as possible. VISIMO will achieve this end through a number of strategic partnerships. As the app is publicly launched, though also targeted specifically at organizations, VISIMO will explore pricing models that maximize usage. For example, selling specialized usage to organizations like universities or hospital systems.
This financial model has led to exponential growth for VISIMO since the beginning of the organization. From 2016 to 2017, revenue increased by 187 percent, from 2017 to 2018, revenue increased by 350 percent, and from 2018 to 2019, revenue increased by 370 percent.
The opportunity to become a part of the Solve network is the primary motivation for pitching our solution through this outlet. Our vision is to deploy our COVID-19 risk prediction app globally, creating multiple user interfaces suitable for different cultures around the world. Because of this global focus, as well as our marketing plan to push for top-down implementation in communities like hospital networks, school systems, religious communities, or office complexes, the vast and diverse Solver network will be invaluable to the public use of our product.
- Product/service distribution
- Marketing, media, and exposure
Our global launch will be completely public. However, due to market saturation VISIMO is proposing a top-down marketing strategy, where institutional leaders introduce the app to their communities. For example, universities providing the risk prediction app to their students, hospital networks recommending the app for all staff and patients, or multinational companies encouraging employees to use the app. This model has been adopted by organizations to promote healthy eating and exercise habits, and our innovation will build upon infrastructure that already exists. Thus, VISIMO will need partners who can provide cultural competency consulting as well as aid our top-down approach through facilitating high-level conversations internally or within their networks.
There are several Pittsburgh partners we would like to work with for this solution: Global Wordsmiths and Jewish Family and Community Services, our preliminary project partners, as well as the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Highmark, and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. VISIMO has preexisting relationships with these desired partners.
We are constantly looking to expand our partnership network and believe the MIT Sloan marketing group faculty would be tremendous partners for our solution. A fundamental objective of our app is to persuade users to minimize unnecessary risk. As the app launches in a variety of culturally specific iterations around the globe, we believe MIT’s marketing faculty could guide app development to incorporate the science behind behavioral psychology and consumer patterns to help our app be persuasive in different cultures. (For example, focusing on the transmission risk users pose to others in collectivist cultures, versus focusing on individual risk in individualist cultures).
Smartphone solutions are not only for developed nations. In emerging countries, 32 to 86 percent of adults use a smartphone, a percentage growing exponentially over the last several years. Targeting this growth, our app will be available to diverse sectors of the global public. In addition to smartphone users themselves, our innovative prediction technology will also reduce transmission risk for non-smartphone users in the vicinity. Following a central tenant of epidemiological modeling: as users reduce their own transmission risk, they reduce risk to those around them. Providing individuals with predictive, rather than reactive, transmission information is key for populations in developing nations, as health care systems are often inadequate. With the ability to compare the risk levels of different choices, users will be able to better protect themselves from severe illness and death where public health systems cannot.
To our knowledge, no apps have leveraged the predictive power of artificial intelligence effectively by combining location data and self-report/survey data. Our app avoids technical and ethical problems inherent in fine-grained location tracking. Instead, it leverages techniques from AI and statistical mechanics to make early and accurate predictions. VISIMO’s risk prediction technology is currently utilized in another live application designed by the company, and it has been adapted to model COVID-19 transmission for this solution.
While the prediction of hotspots will cause people to act more cautiously, we also want to inform users where risk is low. The International Labour Organization estimates that 24.7 million jobs will be lost to COVID-19. Job loss, fear, and self-isolation have caused anxiety, depression, and suicide to rise across the globe. Our app has the potential to reduce anxiety by alerting users to safe spaces, providing options that enable individuals’ self-care. For example, walking in the park at times of low-risk. COVID Clear View can reduce all areas of COVID-19 related harm, giving users the ability to reduce both transmission and mental illness through accurately communicating risk.
The diverse experience of our team will help bring our vision for COVID Clear View to life. Our team is composed of software engineers, big data and business intelligence experts, statisticians, psychologists, and data scientists. The technical lead on this project has a background in computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and complex systems modeling. Besides being technically innovative, our extensive experience with app design will ensure that the end product provides simple, responsive, and engaging user experience.
The AI for Humanity Prize will advance our solution in several ways. First, through funding the majority of the pilot, estimated at approximately $300,000. With this funding, we will be able to quickly begin our pilot without having to raise additional funds. This will free up resources for product deliverables, rather than going toward continued fundraising efforts.
These funds will enable the greater utilization of our social-enterprise partners. We recognize that cultural competency is of utmost importance when launching to the global market, specifically in an area as sensitive as health care. We have preliminary agreements with both a translation and cultural competency nonprofit in Pittsburgh who will receive a large percentage of these funds for their vital work surrounding non-English iterations of the app.
With a fully funded pilot study, our app will increase in predictive accuracy through the continued aggregation of data and machine learning. Our long-term vision is to adapt the predictive model for future novel viruses. If successfully launched, our app will be positioned at the forefront of risk prediction for the next pandemic through an adaptable epidemiological model and user interface.
Our app directly addresses seven of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
3. Good Health and Well-Being
The fundamental premise of the app, VISIMO’s predictive technology and AI-engine, increases both physical and mental wellbeing through the communication of an individual’s risk of viral transmission during daily activities. Ultimately, this tool puts health and well-being in the hands of the user. By providing timely information about health security and pandemic spread, people are empowered to control the amount of risk they face through better informed actions in their daily decisions. Our goal is to allow people to live with reduced anxiety, and to practice self-care, with minimal transmission risk. Our app has the unique ability to improve both physical and mental health, reducing illness and death from disease spread, and improving mental health by reducing isolation while practicing social distancing.
While structured for COVID-19, with proper funding, our app can be developed for future pandemics and global outbreaks. VISIMO is ready to apply our prediction technology to current and future public health crises, before they reach pandemic proportions.. This technology will provide leaders with a risk assessment tool for public policy, in addition to aiding individuals in their daily decisions. Our technology innovation has the potential to save lives now, and into the future.
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
The United Nations’ labor agency has suggested thatCOVID-19 could result in the loss of 25 million jobs globally. Reduced viral transmission, through our new predictive application, allows for continued economic participation, supporting market sustainability and job security.
Individuals and organization heads using our app will be able to accurately assess employee risk during pandemics which will enable individuals to advocate for their own safety and for employers to make informed decisions about work-space setups.
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
VISIMO is developing a top-town consumer model. We will target organizational leaders with the intent that they will promote app usage within their networks. For example, universities can provide the app to their students, or companies to their employees. If entire organizations use the app, the wider impact will grow exponentially as whole communities take control of their transmission risk. This model has been adopted by organizations to promote healthy eating and exercise habits, our innovation will built upon infrastructure that already exists.
10. Reduced Inequalities
Low-income and minority communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Multiple iterations of our app will be launched in non-English languages, reducing the inequality of informed decision making between privileged and underprivileged communities. This can be accomplished quickly and effectively using translation APIs – a less costly option than directly translating the application into numerous languages.
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
Mass isolation and social distancing is not a long-term sustainable model. Our app will increase the safety of communities by providing a sustainable model of risk alleviation: a personal responsibility to understand and mitigate transmission risk through individual actions. Behavioral economics has shown that by empowering users to act responsibly, and showing them their actions have consequences, they will be more likely to adhere to best practices.
16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
As stated under SDG 10, COVID-19 and global pandemics disproportionately impact disadvantaged communities. Our pilot is centered around the value of cultural competency, acknowledging that every culture is unique in the way they discuss personal health information, and their outlook on personal responsibility in community health. According to our project partners, many minority communities are facing an “infodemic” where misinformation about COVID-19 is festering. Misinformation is leading to discrimination and even violence against individuals testing positive for COVID-19. Through culturally sensitive iterations of VISIMO’s app, misinformation can be targeted and eliminated, increasing peace and justice in various communities.
17. Partnerships and Goals
VISIMO is applying to MIT Solve with the goal of forming diverse, global partnerships. We are looking for partners to inform our cultural competency goals. With our top-down implementation model, we aim to form partnerships with diverse organizations in a variety of sectors.
Given our top-down implementation model and focus on wide-spread popular use, crowdsource training provided as part of The People’s Prize will be uniquely valuable to our solution.
Smartphone solutions are not only for developed nations. In emerging countries, 32 to 86 percent of adults use a smartphone, a percentage growing exponentially over the last several years. Targeting this growth, our app will be available to diverse sectors of the global public. In addition to smartphone users themselves, our innovative prediction technology will also reduce transmission risk for non-smartphone users in the vicinity. Following a central tenant of epidemiological modeling: as users reduce their own transmission risk, they reduce risk to those around them. Providing individuals with predictive, rather than reactive, transmission information is key for populations in developing nations, as health care systems are often inadequate. With the ability to compare the risk levels of different choices, users will be able to better protect themselves from severe illness and death where public health systems cannot.
To our knowledge, no apps have leveraged the predictive power of artificial intelligence effectively by combining location data and self-report/survey data. Our app avoids technical and ethical problems inherent in fine-grained location tracking. Instead, it leverages techniques from AI and statistical mechanics to make early and accurate predictions. VISIMO’s risk prediction technology is currently utilized in another live application designed by the company, and it has been adapted to model COVID-19 transmission for this solution.
While the prediction of hotspots will cause people to act more cautiously, we also want to inform users where risk is low. The International Labour Organization estimates that 24.7 million jobs will be lost to COVID-19. Job loss, fear, and self-isolation have caused anxiety, depression, and suicide to rise across the globe. Our app has the potential to reduce anxiety by alerting users to safe spaces, providing options that enable individuals’ self-care. For example, walking in the park at times of low-risk. COVID Clear View can reduce all areas of COVID-19 related harm, giving users the ability to reduce both transmission and mental illness through accurately communicating risk.
During our pilot phase, approximately 800 people will benefit from our app. Within five years, we hope to have 5 million individual users. If significant market share is attained, our prediction model will be at the forefront of innovation for future novel viruses, enabling our product to be quickly and permanently deployed to the public at the beginning of future pandemics.
The Future Planet Capital Prize will advance our solution in several ways. First, through funding the majority of the pilot, estimated at approximately $300,000. With this funding, we will be able to quickly begin our pilot without having to raise additional funds. This will also free up resources for product deliverables, rather than continued fundraising efforts.
These funds will also enable to greater use of our social-enterprise partners. We recognize that cultural competency is of utmost importance when launching to a global market, specifically in an area as sensitive as health care. We have preliminary agreements with both a translation and cultural competency nonprofit in Pittsburgh who will receive a large percentage of these funds for their vital work surrounding non-English iterations of the app.
With a fully funded pilot study, our app will increase in predictive accuracy through the continued aggregation of data and machine learning. Our long-term vision is to adapt the predictive model for future novel viruses. If successfully launched, our app will be positioned at the forefront of risk prediction for the next pandemic through an adaptable epidemiological model and user interface, informing individuals across the globe of their individual transmission risk while saving countless lives.
President & CEO
Grants and Contracts Manager
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Vice President, Partnerships & Strategy

Data Scientist