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Ryan Loftus

Ryan Loftus is a freelance writer specializing in topics like technology, climate change, and the future of agriculture. He's interested in farming advancements and how they can help combat global warming.

Latest stories by Ryan

Professionally dressed man and woman standing in a field surrounded by greenery, solar panels and bees

Can tech help fight climate change? Five innovations making a difference today

  • Small business
  • min read
    • As we say goodbye to the last decade, we usher in a new and crucial one for our planet. According to research, Earth has warmed around 1c since the industrial revolution, which is wreaking havoc on the planet we call home. This is just the start, according to this fun, but terrifying sliding scale. Since the 2016 Paris Agreement – which aims to keep global temperature increases under 2c – climate change has become a critical conversation for all nations and industries. But, as the research of agricultural economist Ester Boserup shows, humankind has the potential to adapt using technology to overcome its problems. These five technologies are designed to help us combat the number one issue we face as a species: global warming. Vacuuming gas from the atmosphere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63S0t4k_Glw Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere have risen 48 percent since the start of the industrial revolution. We need to start reducing it, with the help of direct air capture (DAC) technology. But what is it? Giant vacuum cleaners remove CO2 from the atmosphere, sequestering it underground and, in some cases, supplying it back to specific industries, like fertilizer for farmers or bubbles for drinks companies to carbonate their products. One of the companies already using Direct Air Capture tech is Climeworks. They're removing and sequestering thousands of tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. The CO2 fighting resilient crop Arborea has developed the world's first BioSolar Leaf – which puts a whole new spin on natural photosynthesis. Using unique, photovoltaic-like panels, coined 'bionic leaves,' BioSolar Leaf uses sunlight to grow microscopic plants which can grow in high concentrations within arid and infertile ground. These tiny plants, in turn, produce healthy food ingredients while generating oxygen and sequestering high amounts of CO2. Bees glorious bees https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6HLWS86-Y8&feature=emb_title Bees. You'd be hard pushed to find someone who doesn't appreciate them. But you'd have an equally tricky time sitting down for a coffee with one (the bee, not the person). They are vital to a healthy environment, but unfortunately, their numbers are declining globally. It's time to save these winged wanderers. The World Bee Project and Oracle have teamed up to do just that. Their Hive Network uses cloud technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and smart sensors to collect information about honey bee decline to protect them better. The Hive Network allows researchers to 'listen' in on honey bee enclosures, analyzing data like wing movement, temperature and honey yield. By monitoring bee colonies at this level, conservationists and beekeepers can detect patterns and predict bee behaviors, giving them vital information to keep our (real-world) honeypots alive. Lab-grown cuisine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Iv0857U3UE Not a new technology by any stretch, but a new way of looking at a traditional industry. Meat has a much higher energy footprint than any other food type. It takes 75 times more energy to produce than corn and an area seven times the size of the European Union (EU) to produce enough food for the region's cattle and livestock to eat. In an attempt to curb our carnivorous habits and save our planet from total annihilation, start-ups like Impossible Foods are rearing fake meat – in labs. They've discovered that both animals and plants share a common protein – heme. In plants, this is leghemoglobin, whereas in animals, like cows, this would be hemoglobin. By taking heme from leghemoglobin and growing it in a lab, the product can be colored, shaped and even cooked like a piece of meat because they share the same properties. But there's more. Solar Foods are now turning water into different foods by taking bacteria from soil and multiplying it using hydrogen extracted from water – the result (in this case): flour. Although the flour isn't licensed for sale currently, it's been used to make an edible pancake. Not a bad start. Eventually, the flour will be used to replace fillers in thousands of food products. It can be modified to mimic milk and eggs, and can even be manipulated to create lab-grown fish with all those healthy omega-3 acids. The power of energy storage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmrwdTGZxGk&feature=emb_title Many countries around the world have committed to a 100 percent carbon-free future, but how exactly will it happen? With renewables, in the first instance. But we also need to manage better the energy we produce to power the right tech to help us, like electric cars. The stage is set for interconnectors. These power lines not only move energy across long distances between regional power grids but also store excess energy for later use using lithium-ion batteries – those used in mobile phones and electric cars. The use of these interconnectors is expected to grow tenfold by 2024. They help to store energy for longer to transport it to places where there's less produced – a win-win. Right now, current storage tech can handle four hours of storage. But, technology firms aim to improve that drastically like Energy Vault, a Swiss start-up. They use windy days and automated cranes to stack bricks, recapturing the kinetic energy generated when the bricks fall back to the ground. Watch the video to see it in action. Smart cities are the next port of call The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that climate change could increase deaths by air pollution by hundreds of thousands between 2030 and 2050. One of the big problems: congested cities. Now with advances in artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT) and smart sensors, smart cities are being designed to help keep earth-defiling emissions down and citizens' lungs healthy. Hamburg is a case in point. A prominent port city in Germany, it's bustling with shipping containers, cruise ships and other sea vessels – but struggling to manage increasing air and noise pollution. Air pollution is due to ships burning marine fuels for on-board equipment while they're docked in the harbor. After Hamburg Port Authority teamed up with Siemens and adopted the Siharbour technology (a mobile-operated generator), Hamburg's ports can now hook incoming ships onto the mainland power supply, stopping them from burning unnecessary fuel and keeping emissions down. What happens next? The teams behind these innovations (and countless others) are working around the clock for a better chance of saving our planet. Which ones do you think will help make a difference? And what innovations could your business develop now that could help protect our world?
russian technology inventions, Musician in tailcoat plays theramin

Inventions you never guessed were from Russia

  • Technology
  • min read
    • What do you think when you hear the word 'Russia'? Vodka? Dolls? Grizzly bears? All of the above? You'd be right. But did you know that it also gave the world some of our greatest innovations to date? Here are some technologies you may not have known originated from the Russian state. From electric trains to TV, electricity in the home and more, innovations throughout history have come to define us and how we live and work. So who do we have to thank for that? Well, lots of people, really. Including Russia. But apart from Kaspersky's award-winning cybersecurity solutions, what other innovations has this nation given the world? Electric railway – 1881 Russian visionary Fyodor Pirotsky was obsessed with transmitting electricity over long distances. He developed a two-rail design (what we would call a 'railway' in today's world), in which one rail was a direct conductor of electricity, and the other a reverse conductor. But it wasn't until 1881 that his design started making headway; the world's first electric tram, made of a two-decker horse tramway, went into service in Saint Petersburg, Russia, carrying 40 people. The result? A safe way of transporting people and cargo over long distances, without relying on coal. It was this sort of bulletproof innovation that led to Berlin, Germany, adopting the technology later that year, followed by Brighton in the UK. Cue the industrial revolution. Periodic table of the elements – 1896 During the 19th century, some chemists started to notice that some of Earth's elements had similar properties. But their attempts at articulating their thoughts were futile. That was until Russian Dimitri Mendeleev made an altogether normal train trip in 1896. As a chemist, he'd been studying elements for a while and had created cards for each of them showing their properties. One of Mendeleev's favorite pastimes during his rail journeys was playing solitaire or patience. In a stroke of genius, or boredom, he assembled his cards of the elements as he would a game of solitaire. There you have it: elements connected to each other in vertical and horizontal lines based on similar properties. Or the periodic table, to you and me. Linear Homeoscope – 1817 The linear homeoscope may not mean anything to most people today, but back in the early 19th century, it was a godsend. Inspired by the statistics department of the Police Ministry in Saint Petersburg, Semyon Korsakov wanted to enhance natural intelligence, a similar mission to Google or modern AI programs. His journey began: by constructing the linear homeoscope for the comparison and navigation of information. The homeoscope was a wooden block with a table (to record information in columns) and a selection of pins on another wooden block (which you move over the original block to find the information you're looking for). For example, columns would list different medical treatments, and the rows would list the different symptoms. By setting your search criteria using the pins, you could map the right treatment for the right disease in the flash of an eye. His invention was essentially an early steampunk version of Google for the 1800s, by classifying information and making it quicker to find. Albeit on a smaller scale than today – we now make nearly six billion search engine queries every day. Transformer – 1876 Transformers, historically named 'the distribution of light,' are key components of today's power grids, regulating the amount of electricity that goes into everything from steel factories to your microwave. Surprise, surprise, we have two Russians to thank for that: Pavel Yablochkov and Ivan Usagin. During the mid-1870s, the pair created an electrical device that could convert alternating current from one voltage to another – allowing electricity suppliers to increase or decrease currents to adapt to different electrical systems, converting electricity from power plants to safely use in your office or home. Radio – 1885 Washing the dishes, passing time on a gridlocked highway or even trying to drown out the sounds of your co-workers, wherever you live in the world, chances are you've listened to the radio. But you may not know who created it. Russian physics professor Alexander Popov announced a system for wireless communications in a lecture at St. Petersburg university in 1885, displaying the world's first radio set. Some arguments still remain about who created this first. Italian Guglielmo Marconi conducted similar experiments at the time, although his articles were published 12 years later. Marconi eventually patented the radio and is now credited with its invention. Sorry, Alexander. Helicopter – 1939 The rotor-driven aviation device. The central component that has come to define helicopters in the modern age. Also, the claim to fame for Russian inventor Igor Sikorsky. After designing it in the early 20th century, he used it to create the first hydroplane and multiple-engine aircraft. Then things got turbulent. Fleeing the Russian revolution, he set up shop in America, where some say Sigorsky realized his full potential. After taking a timely financial contribution from Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, he started Sikorsky Aero Engineering Company. His first venture? The world's first helicopter takeoff in 1939. Theremin – 1920 Ethereal, pure sounds, like an electronic echo of the voice, controlled exclusively by your hands in thin air. A vivid dream? Perhaps. One of the most unique inventions in the musical world? Without a doubt. Invented in Moscow by Russian Lev Termen (Léon Theremin, as he's more widely known), the theremin is quite the innovation. Put simply: it's complicated. You wave your hands in front of its two antennas, thus creating an electromagnetic field and, in turn, sound. The pitch depends on the proximity of your hand to a rod-like vertical antenna. The first commercially available electronic musical instrument, it heralded the sonic revolution of electronic music. But even more extraordinary than the theremin's musical legacy is the ensuing endeavors for Léon Theremin. After leaving Russia to pursue a life in America, it's believed he was extradited back to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, where he reportedly worked for the KGB on its cutting-edge Cold War technology. Not the kind of gig you can say no to. He used similar technology to that of the theremin to create the 'bug' – a covert surveillance device – and even claimed to have invented the world's first television behind the iron curtain. An amazing pioneer of technology. And a busy, busy man.
Patient is in bed in a hospital room, while doctor writes on their chart. Lines show all the technology around the room and how it is centrally linked. Astrolab nanosatellites orbiting larger satellite

The hospital of the future: Could smart hospitals deliver better healthcare?

  • Emerging tech
  • min read
    • Healthcare needs are getting more complex, and systems more stretched. To meet the demand for precision healthcare, hospitals need to evolve to become smarter and more efficient. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates healthcare will face a shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers worldwide by 2030. Is it sustainable to increase the workload of already stretched practitioners? Smart hospitals could make healthcare work more efficient and improve the quality of patient care. Smart hospitals and the rise of e-health Smart hospitals are part of the e-health phenomenon. A smart hospital improves patient care using optimized and automated processes, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), to connect medical devices to AI and data analysis. Smart tech helps healthcare practitioners focus on providing high-quality care while reducing the barriers associated with using complex medical technology. Smart tech means smarter workflows One figurehead of the smart hospital movement is Humber River Valley Hospital, Canada. It's North America's first fully-digital hospital (think: online appointment scheduling, digital check-ins and your test results emailed.) It boasts robots and other tech to automate almost 80 percent of its back-office services like pharmacy, laundry and food delivery. This gives clinical staff more time to give back to patients. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD,) UAE, uses digital apps to support treatments. Pre-treatment, patients use apps to communicate with staff. During their stay, they use smart pads to access their info, daily plans and order food. At discharge, the app sends prescriptions to local pharmacies then sends them their bill. Neat. Can robots become care workers? Smart tech could help meet labor shortages: this means more android helpers. During the first COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan Hospital, China, was staffed entirely by robots for several days. Produced by start-up CloudMinds Technology, they improved patient care and gave respite to over-stretched workers. Smart hospitals can automate and digitize traditional, labor-intensive processes. When healthcare is delivered quicker and more accurately, more people can be treated safer and quicker. Consider Johnson Control's Code Blue Activation system; When a patient reaches critical condition, it calls up an emergency care team in just 24 seconds. Could 3D printing replace donors? There's a relatively new tech in smart hospitals: 3D printing. Imagine the opportunities if surgical teams could print body parts, like prosthetic limbs or dental implants, on-demand. While the tech is in its infancy, there are promising advancements, though it's without the speed and capabilities needed for large-scale adoption. Engineers and medical researchers from the University of Minnesota recently created silicon-made scaffolding' that could benefit those with spinal cord injuries by restoring muscle control. Cells are printed onto the structure then implanted into the patient's spinal cord, with a bridge between cells. Can smart hospitals save lives? Given increased healthcare demands, hospitals may not have any choice but to change. Smart hospitals could improve the care we deliver and benefit our societies. But it will be a group effort. Professor Daniel Kelly, Cardiff University's School of Healthcare Sciences, thinks smart hospitals will be crucial for healthcare. But we have to understand how it will affect everyone, including those funding it. "As treatment for many diseases becomes more personalized, there's an urgent need for health systems to evolve. Smart hospitals are symbolic of a future standard of healthcare where we can remove the reliance on paper records and current digital systems' inefficiencies. Securing the smart hospital From sensitive patient information to medical records, it's easy to see why cybersecurity is a hot topic in healthcare. Hospital data and equipment are goldmines for hackers and criminal groups. Those goldmines become all the more accessible when introducing a connected system like a smart hospital. Firstly, traditional medical devices are outdated – they aren't secure by design. This means many wouldn't have been tested for vulnerabilities or built to connect with smart appliances or the internet. (A tough task to foresee the fourth industrial revolution, to be fair.) This gap can allow attackers to gain illegal access to systems and data. A survey by ENISA found the most critical threat to smart hospitals is malicious attacks – like malware blitzes and denial of service (DDoS) raids that take control of systems and devices, steal patient data (most likely to be sold on the dark web) and hold patient data hostage with ransomware. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, attacks on hospitals and health organizations have increased drastically, including this fatality triggered by ransomware in Germany. Human errors still pose one of the biggest threats to patients. Take drug pumps; smart hospitals, or more specifically their workers, deliver controlled doses of medications to patients. These systems prevent over or under-administration, but they have an over-ride button for emergencies. But what if the device isn't configured correctly? Someone could tamper with drug delivery, inadvertently or intentionally, which might have deadly consequences. These technological advancements are not just projects for the IT department: The smart hospital involves participation between technologists and healthcare practitioners. Ongoing collaboration is needed to protect it from cyberthreats to ensure smart systems can save more lives.
Smart agriculture and food

This new tech could help produce enough food for a population of 10 billion

  • Tech for good
  • min read
    • The UN estimates nearly 10 billion people will inhabit our planet by 2050 – two billion more than today. How will we feed them? With the current population path, global food production must increase by 25 to 70 percent before 2050. It may seem impossible, but 'smart agriculture' is starting to help farmers increase production, lower costs and conserve water. Sensors, satellites and internet-connected tractors Smart agriculture often involves capturing and analyzing data in new ways to give farmers information that helps them make better decisions. For example, smart sensors can give farmers detailed maps of topography, resources and soil temperature. They can use climate forecasts to predict weather patterns in the coming days and weeks – predicting weather is hard in the developing world because weather forecasting infrastructure is less developed. The benefits of smart agriculture's big data use are shaping today's farming more than we might think. Climate Edge uses data capture and analysis to help farmers in the developing world farm better. They're fighting common problems like lack of affordable farm insurance and barriers to joining cooperatives by providing farmers with sensors and data-analyzing equipment. When the challenge is to do more with less, data-driven agriculture has a lot to offer. Internet-connected tractors can ensure no waste through overlap when sowing seeds or spraying. Satellites can monitor crop health and sustainability. It's easy to see why IoT is a hit with farmers. Business Insider Intelligence projects farms will install nearly 12 million agricultural sensors worldwide by 2023. It seems this part of smart agriculture is here to stay. Artificial intelligence in the wild Soil quality is one of the biggest challenges in the way of healthier, more abundant food. In recent decades, agricultural output has fallen by up to 13 percent because of the degradation of two billion hectares of global farmland. Berlin-based agricultural tech startup PEAT is out to solve the problem of degraded soil. PEAT developed Plantix, a deep learning application helping farmers identify soil defects and giving soil restoration advice. It also helps identify and correct plant pests and diseases. Plantix uses deep learning to help farmers identify and solve soil quality problems. It's not all daisy chains and smarter yields, mind. Agriculture 4.0 could help us feed billions sustainably and fairly. But, as with all seismic tech shifts, there are risks. One of those is cybersecurity. The cyber risks for smart farmers These new technologies rely on data and internet connection, opening a world of opportunity for hackers and cybercriminals to disrupt the system. If compromised, smart devices, IoT and connected infrastructure on farms could be controlled from the outside. We could see severe consequences, like turning pesticide-spreading drones against their owners or rendering expensive equipment completely useless. Historically, agricultural sector cyberattacks have been few and far between. The US Council of Economic Advisers reported the agricultural industry experienced just 11 cyber incidents in 2016. That's not to say agricultural cyberattacks won't happen more in future. And it goes beyond farms themselves. Where smart agriculture connects farmers with logistics companies and consumers, disruptions to IT systems in those supply chains, particularly logistics, could have catastrophic effects. For example, delayed shipments could mean spoiled produce, leaving shelves empty and raising prices. It's happened before. The 2017 WannaCry ransomware and Petya malware attack on shipping company Maersk led to a complete IT shutdown, causing 300 million US dollars in losses and a stadium-load of missed deliveries of products agriculture relies upon, from food to fuel. The future of farming is in collecting and analyzing big data to maximize efficiency. With the right regulation and widespread adoption of smart farming, farmers could boost yields to meet incoming population growth. But with any advance in technology must be fully safeguarded before we rely on it.
360 Stories interview

The start-up using VR to bring the joy of travel home

  • Bring on the Future
  • min read
    • As part of Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet people and businesses around the world who are changing their industry and society for the better. COVID-19 has hit the travel industry hard. As new travel norms establish, new innovations are taking flight. One travel tech trailblazer is 360 Stories. The company set out to film 360-degree, or immersive, videos of destinations around the world for travel guides, so travelers arrive enriched and more connected to its culture. But in the wake of a global pandemic, 360 Stories added something new – a VR live tour you can experience from your home, like this trip to Notre Dame in Paris. Will this change tourism for the better, or create a niche for armchair travel? I spoke to CEO Albert Poghosyan to find out more. Hi Albert. First up, what's the story behind 360 Stories? With my business partner, Vahagn Mosinyan, we ran a marketing agency just as VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) were developing. We used this tech to create content for some of the biggest brands in the world, like Coke and Google. But we wanted to scale up beyond one-off activations. We thought about which industries could use this tech. Travel came to mind; we didn't know anything about the industry, but as travelers ourselves, we were tired of booking tours based on stock photography, which rarely captures reality. We knew we could do better using 360-degree videos. This format captures a view in every direction using an omnidirectional camera. Our research showed that 360-degree video converts twice as many customers than stock photos and descriptions. So it can help travel agents boost their sales, give tourists piece of mind about their vacation choice, and in the wake of the pandemic, offers an entirely virtual experience where travelers don't even need to leave their homes! We started experimenting in Rio de Janeiro then Prague. Some people in the travel industry didn't think we could scale the project because it hadn't been tried and tested. But we scaled from four cities to 32 in 16 months. Now we work with brands like Lonely Planet and have a worldwide community of travelers. Nice. So what's the big vision for 360 Stories? To give travelers a more immersive, trustworthy and flexible way to research destinations and book travel experiences – like museums, attractions or personal tour guides. In 2019, only 17 percent of experiences were booked online, most are walk-ups. We want to help them understand where to go, on the go. With 360 Stories, they can watch short, immersive videos about their destinations on their phone then book their 'real world' experience straight away. Sounds great. How does your technology work? We use 360-degree cameras to create videos. For example, in the Miami art district, we employ a local filmmaker to film what people can expect from the area. Then we partner with travel companies, like Lonely Planet, to include these videos on their apps and websites. And it's working: testing shows conversion rates have doubled. That's huge! What are the benefits of using 360 Stories? For tourists, before you go anywhere, you can be sure what you will get instead of relying on stock photos. Instead of researching a city once you're there, you can know before you go. For travel companies and tour guides, it's simple: you have something more enticing to show potential customers. Let's talk COVID-19, how has it affected 360 Stories? In 2019, our business relied on partnerships with travel guides and tour operators, but when the pandemic hit, nobody was traveling. We lost thousands of bookings. So we decided to offer virtual experiences from home using our content and pre-filmed video guides, like this trip to Tokyo. Our virtual experiences are a mix of two technologies – Google Street View and Google Meet (previously Google Hangouts), but using all our 360 content and tech, so people can experience the tours from the comfort of their own home. You log in, then the guide at the location gives you a real-time tour. We've gamified it so the guide can give the viewer different tasks to do or solve a puzzle, like a scavenger hunt. It's been hugely successful and means we can grow our business and not worry about travel bans. How do you keep your customer and company data secure?   We're always growing, and that means keeping an eye on our cybersecurity measures. Right now, we're looking into security testing and black-box testing to protect our network as we expand into AR. What's the biggest challenge you've faced so far? When you're doing things in new ways, like digitizing tourism, you need a community to support you and convince the travel industry this is the future. That said, we've built an impressive worldwide community of 250,000 users who have booked tours, with 60 percent booking twice or more. It's a very rewarding feeling. It seems to be working out, so I'm happy! Nice! On the flip side of that, what's the biggest success you've had? All of it! We found a problem in the travel industry – people weren't booking online because they couldn't truthfully see the experience – and we found a solution that helps everyone. It works for travelers and tour guides alike. A good day. So what does the future hold for 360 Stories? We're taking our services to the next level. AR is the next step. Right now, we're developing 360 Stories to include AR. Imagine you visit New York. With a pair of AR glasses, you can be joined by a virtual guide, on hand to give you the best restaurant recommendations, tell you about landmarks close to you, with information overlaid on your glasses. Recently we participated in the Kaspersky Exploring Russia Tourism Accelerator program, which is hugely helpful for us. The program included workshops and advice from leading travel industry experts including Booking.com. There were more than 500 applications from 47 countries – we were delighted to win first place!  We will now take part in a disruptive strategy course at Harvard University to learn how to create even more opportunities for us in the travel industry. Thanks, Albert, and good luck!
stethoMe interview

Could this digital stethoscope boost an e-health revolution?

  • Business
  • min read
    • As part of Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet people and businesses around the world who are changing the industry and society for the better. Telemedicine – the art of making healthcare digital. It's a burgeoning industry, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the urgent need for remote patient care and e-health. One company leading the telemedicine revolution is StethoMe. Its digital stethoscope takes you from smartphone to smart diagnosis in real-time using AI-powered software. But how does it work? And can it pave a new route for patient-doctor consultations? I spoke with Slawomir Kmak, StethoMe's Business Development Director and public health specialist, to find out more. Ryan Loftus: Hi, Slawek. What's the story behind StethoMe? Slawomir Kmak: The company started in Poland about five years ago. Initially, three of our co-founders ran a successful software company but were keen to start a new venture. Sharing frustrating medical experiences as parents, and with children with respiratory ailments, they wanted to explore how telemedicine could help. After looking into the industry, they met two scientists, or acousticians to be precise, also sharing frustrating medical experiences as parents, who wanted to build a digital stethoscope for child healthcare. Initially, it was aimed at children to make consultations easier between doctors and pediatric patients. StethoMe name comes from 'to stethoscope me.' It's a system built for smart lung and heart screening consultations, capturing sounds from inside the human body and transferring them to medical consultants for diagnosis. We've just celebrated our fifth year in business. Happy anniversary! So what's the big vision for StethoMe? We make the patient-doctor consultation process easier and quicker for both parties, and AI algorithms make it more clinically accurate. A stethoscope is a primary tool for patient-doctor interaction. Auscultation exams (using a stethoscope to listen to sounds inside the body) is essential, especially for children. We want to be able to make the tech available to do this in every home. At first, we focused on pediatric care, but now we're expanding it to adults. StethoMe works with many partners, from healthcare providers to public health organizations. We want to expand that to include insurance companies, outpatient clinics, telemedicine brands and more. As common as thermometers. How does your technology work? There are two elements to StethoMe: hardware and software. The hardware is unique and designed by us; it recently won a 2020 IF design award. It's the device that you hold up to a patient's chest to capture lung and heart sounds. Then you have the software, with AI algorithms that analyze the sounds and provide digital information to each party. StethoMe algorithms indicate and inform patients about abnormalities in their respiratory system; a doctor then receives the waveforms in real-time with an indication of these abnormalities. Our AI algorithms are based on 12,000 recordings, 40,000 medical descriptions and one million medical tags, which are used to classify waveforms and their attributes. For a patient, it works like this: you follow an easy, step-by-step tutorial to make the right auscultation exam at home, then StethoMe's AI analyzes the sounds and provides immediate results. There are three outcomes: red, orange and green lungs. Green lungs mean everything's fine; orange means there are some abnormalities, and red lungs indicate there may be a problem. This is when you can send your results to a doctor who receives precise information about the abnormalities. On the StethoMe doctor platform, physicians can playback sounds, see spectrograms with an accurate indication of abnormalities at each auscultation point, and understand relative risk and heart beats-per-minute (BPM) values. This gives healthcare professionals clinical advice on how to diagnose the patient. Smart diagnosis indeed. What are the benefits of using StethoMe? For patients, StethoMe means auscultation exams previously only available in a doctor's office can be performed at home. You'll know straight away if you or your child's lung condition needs further treatment. StethoMe also allows telemedicine to be more precise – this limits the need for physicals visits to your doctor. For doctors, StethoMe offers easy, swift remote consultations, reducing the load on healthcare systems, while AI ensures precise, clinical interactions. It can also benefit the monitoring of ongoing chronic diseases like asthma. StethoMe stethoscope provides a clear sound that's louder and much more precise than a traditional stethoscope. But perhaps one of the most significant benefits is that anyone, including parents and caregivers, can use StethoMe. That sets us apart from many competitors and similar innovations. Let's talk COVID-19. How has it affected StethoMe or vice versa? As with all businesses, COVID-19 has been a demanding time for our organization. That said, as it's a respiratory disease, our product has made an impact for doctors and health workers on the frontline who can't easily use a real stethoscope through their PPE as it increases the chances of transmitting the virus. We've developed a unique feature for frontline doctors in isolation hospitals so they can use StethoMe through headphones, underneath their PPE. StethoMe gives the freedom to outsource auscultation examinations to a nurse or even directly to the patient at home. Remote auscultation is crucial during a pandemic to limit the probability of health workers becoming infected. That's huge. How do you keep your customer and company data secure? We don't provide a platform for the data; StethoMe is an open API. Which means we can integrate into existing platforms and systems. We don't hold any customer data on our servers and our partners have cybersecurity measures in place. The only data we process is the wave file, which from a GDPR or other data regulation point of view isn't considered to be personal data. Across our business, we make sure that we're fully protected against cyber-risks – everything from encrypted communications and VPNs to keeping our servers up-to-date. What's the biggest challenge you've faced so far? Many! StethoMe is a very demanding project; we've had to work hard to get the required medical industry certification. The biggest challenge was building the AI algorithm, which was difficult to get clinical validation due to its complexity. But we did it, and now it's out there and working, a proud moment for us. Nice! On the flip side of that, what's the biggest success you've had? Again, medical certification! Clinical validation is a huge motivation for us; it means the project has been recognized as having credible potential. We recently launched with our first customers, ranging from healthcare providers to consumers and public health organizations. It's great to see our product being used across Europe. Additionally, being able to help hospitals to work more safely during the pandemic gives us a big, motivational kick. We know what we do could change healthcare. A good day. So what does the future hold for StethoMe? We want to grow and expand, focusing initially in the EU then over to the US, where we're currently in the middle of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certification process. From there, we'd love to expand to the Middle East and beyond. As we're AI-driven, we're developing more features based on our algorithm. Right now, we're working on a health index to monitor the exact progression of chronic disease in the patient's record. Once this is built, we'll be able to offer an even more effective service. Thanks, Slawek, and good luck!
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