THUNDER BAY – A group of former Superior CVI students has been recognized with an award and $10,000 in prize money, after designing software meant to improve access to virtual mental health services in remote communities.
Calling themselves Superior Innovations, the team of five 2020 graduates took home the top prize in this year’s Digital Inclusion Challenge, open to technology leaders worldwide, for their product Face to Face.
This year’s challenge asked competitors to develop solutions based around one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, quality education, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns over mental health and equity.
“The current pandemic has amplified isolation and severely limited access to mental health support, with poor internet infrastructure making sessions extremely difficult as everything’s been shifted online,” the group explained in its video submission.
The Face to Face software the team developed allows videoconferencing at much lower bandwidth than products like Zoom, which require internet speeds beyond what is available in many remote communities throughout northern Ontario.
The software records 68 points on a user’s face to manipulate a digital avatar that mimics their facial expressions, rather than video. That allows the program to minimize data sent over the internet, using up to 77 per cent less bandwidth than Zoom.
The group based its work partly on conversations with a local child psychiatrist, who described serious difficulties with internet connections as a problem in offering remote services. Telephone calls, meanwhile, don’t allow assessment of patients’ non-verbal cues, and can come with costs.
The Face to Face technology would allow greater connection and assessment of behavioural cues, the team said, and could have applicability in other areas including education.
“Face to Face ensures that no one is left behind as we transition into an increasingly digital world,” explained team member Alex Harris.
The five students, all graduates of Superior’s International Baccalaureate program, said there’s already interest from local mental health providers in participating in a pilot project to roll out the software.
The Superior Innovations team includes Alexander Harris, Harasees Singh, Fuyang Deng, Euan Pound, and Amir-Ali Golrokhian-Sani, all of whom are now in post-secondary studies at Ontario universities.
