CARRBORO — A Carrboro artificial intelligence (AI) startup is leveraging its technology platform to help business and community leaders navigate with North Carolina’s COVID-19 reopening.
Carrboro-based Tanjo is teaming up with the Digital Health Institute for Transformation (DHIT) to build an engine that uses machine learning and advanced analytics to ingest huge amounts of national and regional data — and then provide actionable insights.
“Successfully reopening our economy without risking the destruction of the health of our communities is the central challenge we are attempting to overcome,” said Michael Levy, president of DHIT, in a statement. “More reliable, local data-driven expert guidance enabled by smart AI is critical to allow the safe and successful reopening of our communities and businesses.”
Consider the breadth of intelligence: health and epidemiological data, labor and economic data, occupational data, consumer behavior and attitudinal data, and environmental data.
Tanjo, founded by serial entrepreneur Richard Boyd in 2017, said it is designing dashboard to give stakeholders real-time intelligence and predictive modeling on population health risk, consumer sentiment and community resiliency.
Richard BoydUsers will be able to view the risk to their business and county, as well as simulate the impact of implementing evidence-based recommendations, enabling them to make informed decisions.
As part of the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act, the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory in late July awarded the DHIT a grant to research, validate, and build a simulation platform for North Carolina’s business and community leaders.
DHIT and Tanjo entered into a formal strategic partnership in November 2019, pre-COVID 19.
The seven NC counties chosen for the initial pilot are: Ashe, Buncombe, Gates, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Robeson, and Wake.
The overall project is a collaboration between Tanjo, DHIT, the Institute for Convergent Sciences and Innovate Carolina at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the NC Chamber Foundation, among other key stakeholders.
If you are a community organization or business located in the counties listed above and are interested in being a beta tester for this initiative, contact communityconfidence@dhitglobal.org.
