The English company won the prize at the StartUp Europe Awards Special Edition, which was focused on social impact
Country: England
Category: Female-led Startup
Project Aim:
OKRA is an artificial intelligence company for healthcare. We use AI-powered analytics to save and improve human lives, driving health and market outcomes where they matter most. Through the OKRA platform, healthcare professionals get one combined view of all their data, and create instant evidence-based insight. These insights include analyses, comparisons, suggestions and predictions of the future, which support faster and more accurate decisions for businesses and patients. Furthermore, we know that our clients must be able to ask why or exactly what has informed the OKRA platform’s insights. With every output, we have unique built-in explanations that give reasons behind each recommendation, including which drivers and data sources have been used. Our AI is not a so-called “black box” – we never keep our users in the dark – which couldn’t be more important in the realm of healthcare.
What is the problem to solve?
Our mission is to get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, by building the world’s most trustworthy artificial intelligence engine.
What does OKRA do:
OKRA was founded with the vision to support the drive to greater precision and speed in healthcare. Our AI technology processes vast quantities of data at a fraction of the time – and a fraction of the cost – compared to humans. It can process data again and again for each individual patient, analysing and recommending personalised treatments rather than statistical averages. OKRA’s predictive technology, which has a high level of validated accuracy (we can achieve >90% prediction accuracy), opens up to a new range of questions: we can ask not only “how are my patients responding to Drug X”, but “how will they respond in future, and why?” AI ensures that the right drug reaches the right person, at the right time. It is a win-win technology for all healthcare stakeholders: the patient, healthcare provider, health authorities, drug provider and the insurer.
On what OKRA is currently working:
We currently work with 3 global pharmaceutical companies to improve the accuracy of their treatments and market outcomes, and in the longer term, we are also able to apply our technology to support clinicians’ decision-making at the point of care, including treatment decisions and diagnoses made by hospital staff and general practitioners. This will enable patients and practitioners to make better informed decisions about their health. In 2019, we are growing and scaling quickly.
CEO’s testimony:
On a European level, we believe AI technology will be of great importance. Today, Europe’s healthcare system is facing unprecedented pressures. Populations are ageing, chronic diseases are growing, and according to recent estimates, Europe’s healthcare staff will not grow enough by 2020. Meanwhile, 1 of 5 euros spent on healthcare are wasted, 50% of antibiotics are wrongly prescribed, and 10% of patients are hospitalised due to the medical care they have previously received. Drugs and resources are wasted in the current healthcare process, at the expense of EU citizens everywhere.
To support a continued thriving healthcare system and sustainable production of drugs and healthcare services, Europe must achieve greater efficiency and precision, and OKRA supports this shift with artificial intelligence technology.
In the picture: Part of the OKRA Team.