Tech advance
AI funding to upgrade quality in aged sector .
By Elise Hartevelt
Australia ’ s major scientific research organisation has granted researchers from Victoria University over a million dollars to speed up the use of artificial intelligence ( AI ) in aged care .
CSIRO ’ s funding will go to five PhD projects looking to reduce falls and injuries in residential care , predict dementia , and reduce the risk of age-related diseases .
Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research Partnerships Professor Vasso Apostolopoulos hopes the results of these projects will impact the aged care sector .
“ Quality care is important to everyone , including next-of-kin and service providers ,” he said .
“ Using emerging technology to improve older Australians ’ quality of life and be at the cutting-edge of care and research is at the heart of this project .”
CSIRO ’ s funding comes in response to the sector ’ s need to fill job vacancies of over 160,000 AI-savvy workers by 2030 .
Apostolopoulos hopes to grow a pipeline of job-ready AI graduates from engineering , social and mathematical sciences by providing scholarships to domestic students .
“ The VU has the multidisciplinary expertise and strong industry partner to improve the aged care sector with AI ,” he said .
Currently , CSIRO is funding twelve university projects worth $ 10.9 million to innovate technology in Australia across major healthcare and environmental sectors .
The aged care industry has also reached out to AI to up the quality of care .
One project , Talk With Ted , gives providers an artificial intelligence avatar that teaches aged care workers to communicate better with people living with dementia .
Aged Care Insite also spoke with Vlepis chief Bill Dimopoulos , who has worked on a $ 1.48 million research project to improve AI in aged care .
“ Today ’ s technology is very manual ; it ’ s very siloed and haphazard ,” Dimopoulos said .
“ If we target our efforts based on strengths and collaborate with other research teams , we can get the bigger picture outcomes rather than solving problems .
“ Then , we can create the tools to improve aged care quality and allow facilities to operate better .”
Of Labor ’ s $ 3.9 billion funding towards aged care in its federal budget , $ 312.6 million will go towards improving ICT systems over the upcoming four years .
“ These promising projects show once again that Australian medical researchers are among the best in the world ,” health minister Mark Butler said . ■
28 agedcareinsite . com . au