Evaluation of a start-up concept integrating Smart Home technology with feline pet care

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Animal Health may contribute to detect cat diseases at an early stage, potentially preventing worsening symptoms or death. Therefore, my thesis will examine the viability of my start-up idea regarding an AI-based, cat-health Smart Home application.

De Riggi, Angelica, 2021

Art der Arbeit Bachelor Thesis
Auftraggebende Angelica De Riggi
Betreuende Dozierende Birkenmeier, Beat, Laurenzi, Emanuele
Keywords Entrepreneurship, AI, IoT, Smart Home
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Due to various reasons, pet owners tend to fail in detecting deviations from their cat’s habits. AI-based solutions might come to the rescue though. AI-based detection of diseases in an early stage reduces worsening symptoms and unnecessary, stressful vet visits for pets and owners. In addition, treating an injury or illness in an early stage might considerably reduce treatment costs. Since the idea for this start-up is of a personal nature, I am very motivated to test whether it could be successful in helping other cat owners avoiding the pain of a disease that is detected too late.
I am analyzing whether my start-up idea regarding Smart Home applications for cat owners might be successful. My dataset includes secondary as well as primary data. Quantitative and qualitative interviews were conducted among potential early adopters. Moreover, I have carried out a workshop with participants with interdisciplinary skills for my solution space. Furthermore, I conducted interviews with experts to gain insights in relevant fields. For the thesis, I adapted a well-known process for disciplined entrepreneurship based on the book by Aulet B. (2013).
In his book Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Bill Aulet discusses how a number of electronic health record startups in the 1980s failed because of a lack of interest from physicians (Aulet, 2013). A product, however logical or novel, must be picked up by potential customers to be successful (Aulet, 2013). A review of potential competitors such as Tably and Petriage shows that AI is currently employed in the industry to monitor and improve pet welfare. A review of the scientific literature has shown that convolutional neural networks are currently capable of accurately detecting health problems and distress in several animal species (Stern et al., 2015; Tuttle et al., 2018). Valletta et al., (2017) provide animal behaviorists with an overview of machine learning applications in animal behavior studies, promoting machine learning as a useful addition to the animal behaviorists’ analytical toolkit. Using the "disciplined entrepreneurship" concept, I evolved my business proposal from an initial idea to a business-worthy product concept.
Studiengang: Business Administration International Management (Bachelor)
Vertraulichkeit: vertraulich
Art der Arbeit
Bachelor Thesis
Auftraggebende
Angelica De Riggi, Bern
Autorinnen und Autoren
De Riggi, Angelica
Betreuende Dozierende
Birkenmeier, Beat, Laurenzi, Emanuele
Publikationsjahr
2021
Sprache der Arbeit
Englisch
Vertraulichkeit
vertraulich
Studiengang
Business Administration International Management (Bachelor)
Standort Studiengang
Brugg-Windisch
Keywords
Entrepreneurship, AI, IoT, Smart Home