Smart Playing Blocks
A smart learning tool that aims to maintain cognitive health and train skills in a fun and engaging manner.
Worldwide, around 55 million people have dementia, according to the WHO. As older populations increase in nearly every country, this number is expected to rise to 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. This has far reaching social and economic consequences that affect their loved ones and the community at large.
Our solution is a gamified cognitive training tool that aims to improve mental acuity in the elderly and reduce the chances of developing dementia. It features activities designed to train skills such as reaction speed, pattern recognition, word recognition, colour recognition, person recognition, etc. By making it fun and engaging, we hope to encourage the users to play regularly, so that they can reap the long term benefits. We are also using machine learning to allow users to track their improvements over time, which will act as positive reinforcement.
Our solution aims to initially serve the elderly. This will also provide support to their caregivers and family members, by giving them a tool to care for the elderly in their lives. In the future, we foresee that our solution can also be used by a wider segment of the population as a preventative tool.
We have undergone extensive market research by liaising with care homes, NGOs, community organisations and universities. We have collected their initial feedback and hope to create a product that will best serve our users. We have developed a network of potential beta testers who are eager to test our product and provide feedback once our prototype is ready.
We have worked extensively with various NGOs and higher education institutions in Hong Kong to conduct research and beta testing for our product, to better understand the needs and thoughts of the potential users.
- Other: Addressing an unmet social, environmental, or economic need not covered in the four dimensions above.
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community
We believe that the elderly market is often underserved, especially by technology solutions. We hope to be part of the change and provide tolls that improve their daily lives. By creating a fun and engaging product targeted for this demographic, we hope to infuse some fun into their daily lives and help them maintain good cognitive health into old age.
Within the next year, we hope to:
- Launch our product on a wider scale and increase production
- Connect with more potential users and partner organizations across different markets
- Receive feedback from more users and continue developing our product
Within the next five years, we hope to:
- Have a sustainable business model that will allow us to subsidise our products for low-income individuals who may benefit from our product
- Reach even more people in different countries
- Work with healthcare or insurance organisations to increase adoption of our products
We are using a unique combination of software and hardware to create a product that delivers an engaging and interesting user experience. Our product employs a patent-pending innovative design that allows the user to interact in different ways. We are also employing a machine learning model to enable users to track their improvements over time.
- Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
- Behavioral Technology
- Big Data
- Internet of Things
- Software and Mobile Applications
- Hong Kong SAR, China
We are currently serving around a dozen people. In the next year, we hope to greatly increase our scale and target to serve around 500 people.
In order to increase our scale of production, it will require an investment of time and money. We are also working to increase awareness around our product and drive adoption in various partner organizations.
We have worked with Hong Kong Science & Technology Park, Hong Kong Productivity Council, Hong Kong Council for Social Service, Hong Kong Gerontechnology Platform, Chinese University of Hong Kong's Jockey Club Institute of Ageing.
Our income will come from initially selling the physical product and then providing a subscription model for additional features if the user wishes to unlock them. In terms of selling the physical product, we plan to sell to individual customers as well as bulk orders to organisations such as NGOs, care homes and hospitals. The subscription model would allow the user to unlock additional game modes, to enhance their game experience by adding more variety and possibilities. They could also unlock more detailed user metrics and track their improvements over time.
We hope to become financially sustainable through a combination of grants, raising capital, selling products and contracts with organisations.