Panasonic’s assets combined with EAGLYS’ Federated Learning technology will aim to solve problems in Japan’s aging society.
By combining Panasonic’s assets with EAGLYS’ Federated Learning technology, EAGLYS aims to alleviate the workload in nursing care facilities while at the same time protecting the privacy of patients to create a society where the residents can live comfortably.
Urgent Need to Address Shortage of Personnel in Nursing Facilities
According to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there are approximately 2.11 million nursing care workers engaged in nursing care services as of 2019 but it is estimated that there will be a shortage of approximately 690,000 nursing care workers by 2040. On the other hand, the market for services for the elderly is growing as new players from other industries enter this market, and many solutions are being developed to help users of nursing care facilities live comfortably.
Nursing and welfare facilities are required to respond to the shortage of human resources while maintaining and improving the quality of their services. Although government-led measures such as support for staff training are already taking place, it will take time to develop the new staff through education, therefore AI and IoT solutions are being considered.
For example, introducing a system that uses sensors and image data to detect irregularities and abnormal behavior in patients to notify staff in real time. The AI models used in these AI/IoT solutions must be able to learn with a high degree of accuracy in order to respond to the diversified needs of patients while at the same time take privacy into consideration.
Panasonic’s Assets and EAGLYS’ Federated Learning Technology to Help Solve the Shortage of Human Resources at Nursing and Welfare Facilities
EAGLYS’ mission is to safely utilize all forms of data and turn it into value. To achieve that, we focus on two areas of business: data security and data utilization using secure computing, AI design and development, and analysis services. Our strength lies in our ability to propose the best solution to our customers’ needs whether a secure computing solution or AI design or combination of both, as have been solving corporate problems and creating use cases on a daily basis.
In addition, by leveraging the experience of being involved in various efforts related to secure data utilization from companies’ PoCs, such as building a fall prevention system using the camera of a medical institution and AI image recognition technology. We are also working on the practical implementation and use of Federated Learning technology, which collects and aggregates only the results (model weights) obtained from specific AI analysis without sharing the data itself.
By integrating Panasonic’s IoT devices with EAGLYS’s Federated Learning technology, we can analyze the physical and mental changes of patients in nursing care facilities using highly accurate AI models while protecting privacy as only Ai models are shared by the devices and not the data itself. We believe that this initiative will help alleviate the workload in the nursing care field, so we applied to the “Panasonic Accelerator by Electric Works Company” and were successfully selected.
Using AI/IoT solutions that automatically adjust the settings of beds, air conditioning, etc. by detecting changes in the physical and mental state of users in nursing care welfare facilities, will allow even users who have difficulty moving their bodies will be able to stay comfortable without having to wait for staff to respond to their requirements. What is more, the system eliminates the need for staff to respond to the detailed requests of users, leading to a solution to the shortage of human resources and enabling the maintenance and improvement of service quality in the nursing care and welfare business as a whole.
Through this initiative, we will contribute to the creation of spaces where people can live comfortably and with privacy in mind.
About Panasonic Accelerator by Electric Works Company
Panasonic Accelerator by Electric Works Company is a corporate accelerator program jointly operated by Panasonic Electric Works Company and 01Booster, which aims to develop a safe and comfortable everyday life for the next 100 years by co-creating with venture companies with advanced perspectives and unique ideas.
Program: https://www.01booster.com/program/panasonic/
Press release: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000434.000016550.html
What is federated learning technology?
Federated Learning (FL) is a form of collaborative learning without sharing private data. Local AI models are computed on local devices, and only the features of local AI models are transmitted and shared for training a global AI model while raw data remains on local devices.
Federated learning technology can be used to reduce huge data communication and storage costs as only the summary of each local data set is sent to a central location to construct a global AI model and transmission volumes tend to be significantly lower. At the same time it complies with security and laws and regulations, while building an AI model that utilizes data from multiple sources.
Read more: Federated Learning technology used by banks to prevend fraudulent transactions: https://www.eaglys.co.jp/use-case/federated-learning
