Vinnova supports CO-AX company, Konvoj, in developing scheduling optimization for healthcare
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Konvoj, the AI-driven scheduling optimization platform
Konvoj, the AI-driven scheduling optimization platform revolutionizing staff planning in healthcare, has, along with its partner North Link, been granted 2 million Swedish kronor in funding from Sweden's innovation agency Vinnova. This grant is part of Vinnova's initiative to strengthen gender equality aspects in digital technology development.
Publish date:2024-01-16–Text:
Jamie Smith
Konvoj's scheduling optimization platform is designed to handle the complex scheduling needs of healthcare, enabling healthcare operations to make staff scheduling smarter, faster, and fairer.
- "Healthcare faces significant scheduling challenges. There has been an overwhelming interest in our new scheduling optimization technology from municipalities, regions, and private healthcare providers. Receiving Vinnova's support means a lot and enables us to step up our development work," says Tilda Back, mathematician and founder of Konvoj.
Creating legal, resource-efficient, and safe schedules, while also allowing staff influence over their working hours, is perhaps one of the most important challenges to solve in healthcare today. Swedish healthcare is in a staffing crisis, not least due to high staff turnover and recruitment difficulties. One reason for staff leaving healthcare is strenuous schedules that are hard to balance with private life.
- "Moreover, new collective agreements came into effect this October, with new rules on daily rest, among others. Many healthcare organizations contact us for help solving their scheduling puzzle, which has now become more challenging," says Tilda Back.
For two years, Konvoj has been collaborating with the technology agency, North Link, which also participated as an angel investor in Konvoj's capital round last year. North Link has extensive experience in collaborating with innovation companies where artificial intelligence is a key component.
- "Welfare faces major challenges in the coming years. We believe Konvoj is an important piece in more efficient Swedish welfare. Therefore, it's fantastic that we now receive support from Vinnova and can develop Konvoj at a faster pace," says Niklas Silfverström, co-founder and CEO of North Link.
Healthcare is a female-dominated sector. Sweden's largest professional group, nursing assistants in home care, home healthcare, and nursing homes, is 90% female.
- "Fair and sustainable working conditions in healthcare mean more equal working conditions in the labour market at large. Moreover, female shift workers often face the 'double burden' of managing demanding work schedules while carrying the majority of unpaid household work. I'm glad and proud that Vinnova recognizes and supports this important aspect of our work," says Tilda Back.
The idea for Konvoj emerged after its founder Tilda Back, with prior experience in scheduling optimization in the aviation industry, realized that healthcare today creates its staff schedules by hand. Konvoj is part of Sahlgrenska Science Park's accelerator program CO-AX.
North Link is a software company from Helsingborg with expertise in AI. The company's vision is to be at the forefront of machine learning and image analysis. North Link also develops the AI tool, Klang.ai, a fast-growing transcription solution for interviews in Swedish, focusing particularly on GDPR and security.
