Squiboon
Squiboon uses cutting-edge conversational and generative AI approaches combined into a SaaS platform and an android app that facilitates community meetings in care homes and retirement villages, empowering older adults to come together independently for face-to-face conversations, skills sharing and community participation and citizenship activities. The platform offers housing and care providers valuable insights into community engagement, participation, wellbeing and consultation.
About the project
Older adult populations are growing, with the UN predicting the number of people aged over 60 will grow 56% between 2015 to 2030, reaching 1.4 billion. Loneliness is a growing problem for older adults, with two million over 50s expected to experience loneliness by 2025/26. Half a million older adults in the UK go five days without seeing or speaking to anyone at all, and over a million report not speaking to friends, family or neighbours for over a month. 25% of adults aged 65 and over are socially isolated and are most at risk for social isolation due to living alone, loss of family or friends, chronic illness, loss of mobility, lack of transport, retirement and hearing loss. Loneliness poses serious public health risks. Social isolation significantly increases risk of premature death and is associated with a 50% increase in risk of developing dementia. Loneliness is associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease, 32% increase of stroke risk and higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide. With 1.4 million chronically lonely older adults in the UK alone, the seriousness of loneliness and the public health risks it poses explains why making solutions that address loneliness for older adults a key priority. What we have found through our research is the real problem to tackle to reduce loneliness is: How do you build community with people who are not like minded? We have created Squiboon to achieve just that.
Product
Squiboon uses cutting-edge conversational and generative AI approaches combined into a SaaS platform that performs as an Intelligent Neighbourhood Builder, empowering older adults to come together independently for face-to-face conversations, skills sharing and community participation and citizenship activities. The platform offers housing and care providers valuable insights into community engagement, participation, wellbeing and consultation. We co-designed this preventative solution with older adults of low SES, using inclusive design approaches. The platform is communally-located, which is critical to overcoming digital exclusion.