Heads up: Our Ideas Factory has been refreshed, levelled up, and grown-up into Alphero Intelligence. Some of our old posts are pretty cool tho'. Check this one out.
- NEC put together a team to rapidly design, develop, and deliver an app that could help fight the spread of Covid-19.
- The iQuarantine app allows users in self-isolation to check in remotely.
- Health service professionals can access the real-time data from the Salesforce.com backend, easing pressure for those on the front line.
NEC New Zealand pulled together an innovation task force (comprising Alphero, Fronde, and NEC) to rapidly develop an app that could utilise their world-leading facial recognition technology to assist in the fight against Covid-19.
The result is iQuarantine: a mobile check-in and case management system intended for use by government agencies looking to effectively track people in home quarantine. It’s an end-to-end solution (complete with NEC’s facial recognition and Salesforce CRM for case management) that enables users to self-monitor and report their health status remotely, reducing the burden on New Zealand’s healthcare infrastructure.
The iQuarantine app is designed to be easy-to-use for both those in self-isolation and healthcare professionals. Push notifications prompt users to check in up to three times a day from the comfort of their own bubble, confirming their identity through facial recognition. The user’s health status and location is then automatically updated in the iQuarantine Case Management Portal for users and health services to access and track in real-time.
The Alphero team was able to leverage the rapid innovation techniques and methodologies that our Ideas Factory in-house R&D is built upon to innovate and produce at speed. As countries across the world are racing against the spread of Covid-19, collaboration is key to developing solutions quickly that could help save thousands of lives. There’s no time to sit on ideas — it’s now or never.
NEC New Zealand are now in discussions with government agencies around the world looking at a range of uses for iQuarantine — both around tracking quarantine of travellers arriving in countries to non-Covid uses where individuals are required to stay within a certain geofenced area.