At a recent Georgian College Hackathon, my team and I developed CarePal, an AI-powered companion designed to enhance senior wellness and safety. Over a 20-hour innovation marathon, we took an idea from a brainstorming session to a fully-realized pitch, ultimately winning 2nd place in the finals. My primary role was leading the business development and product strategy, ensuring our technical solution was grounded in real-world market needs.

The Problem: Addressing Senior Isolation and Healthcare Gaps

The hackathon presented four themes, but my team was drawn to healthcare. The inspiration for CarePal struck a personal chord when a teammate shared her experience helping an elderly neighbor with technology. This highlighted a critical issue:

In Canada, over 42% of seniors live alone, many without the consistent support they need for their health and well-being.

This statistic became our call to action. We saw a clear opportunity to leverage AI to provide proactive support, reduce loneliness, and offer peace of mind to both seniors and their caregivers.

Our Solution: CarePal, a Proactive AI Companion

CarePal is more than just an app; it’s a proactive AI companion designed to be a lifeline for seniors. It performs wellness checks, ensures medication adherence, provides companionship, and detects behavioral changes that could signal a problem.

Key Features:

• Proactive Wellness Checks: Initiates conversations to check on the user’s well-being.

• Medication Reminders: Helps ensure critical medication schedules are followed.

• Emergency & Anomaly Detection: Monitors for unusual behavior and can alert caregivers or emergency services.

• Unparalleled Accessibility: Designed for connectivity across various devices to support seniors with audio, visual, or speech impairments.

The Technology Stack: Leveraging a Canadian LLM

To power CarePal, we chose the COHERE API, a Canadian-led enterprise specializing in state-of-the-art generative AI.

We built our solution on a Large Language Model (LLM) enhanced with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). This powerful combination allows CarePal to move beyond simple, scripted interactions. It enables truly insightful and helpful engagement, tailored to the unique conversational style and needs of each senior.

My Role: Driving Business Development and Product Strategy

While our “Hackers” brought the prototype to life, my role was to build the strategic foundation for CarePal’s success. As the lead for Business Development, I was responsible for:

• Market Research & Validation: Identified the core problem and validated our assumptions with data, such as the statistic on senior isolation.

• Competitive Analysis: Assessed the existing landscape of senior care technology to define CarePal’s unique value proposition and key differentiators.

• Brand Development: Conceptualized the “CarePal” name and crafted the core messaging that emphasized empathy, proactivity, and accessibility.

• Go-to-Market Strategy: Outlined an initial plan for how CarePal could be introduced to the market, targeting home care agencies, family caregivers, and healthcare organizations.

• Pitch Deck Collaboration: Worked closely with our team’s “Hustler” to translate our technical features and business strategy into a compelling narrative for the final pitch.

The Result: A 2nd Place Victory and a Validated Concept

Our intensive 20-hour effort culminated in a presentation to the hackathon judges. I’m incredibly proud that our team’s hard work and compelling vision for CarePal earned us the 2nd place award.

This achievement was more than just an accolade; it was a powerful validation of our approach—proving that a combination of empathetic design, advanced AI, and a solid business strategy can create solutions that truly resonate.

Watch our final pitch video to see CarePal in action! 

Key Takeaways

The Georgian College Hackathon was a profound reminder that the most impactful technology is born from a deep understanding of human needs. CarePal represents the beginning of a journey to use AI not to replace human connection, but to enhance and support it, especially for our most vulnerable populations.