‘Healthcare is a wonderful industry to work in. In the end, we all need healthcare sooner or later, one way or the other. So what we are developing here, immediately contributes to your own future’, Madeleine says. ‘Also, healthcare professionals are nice people to work with, who have a heart for their fellow humans. Yet healthcare is also a tough target group for innovation. Rules and regulations make people careful – and rightly so. This adds to the challenge of inventing something that is valuable for the client or the patient.’

When COVID-19 stroke, the shortage of healthcare professionals became painfully clear. Moreover, the need for human contact strongly increased. ‘It turned out to be the perfect start for the launch of Digital Humans – avatars on a website who look like humans, with real-life facial expressions, who can mimic emotions and a human voice. AI allows the Digital Human to replace human interaction, and to understand the context of a conversation. It’s next level compared to a chatbot or voicebot’, Madeleine says enthusiastically. As a Project Manager she has collaborated with a team of developers, UX designers, Privacy & Security-experts, and Conversation AI-specialists, to bring the first conversation with a Digital Human to life.

‘In May 2020 we started our collaboration with Omring, a healthcare organisation in the north of the Netherlands. Together, we developed Wendy, the very first Digital Human in Europe. Together with our client we determined what she should look like, her voice, her personality, and the emotions that support the conversation, but also the client’s brand. The conversation needs to be translated well into the appropriate facial expressions, which is an entirely new UX expertise. Digital Human Wendy was able to answer any kind of COVID-19 related questions from elderly people. Can I see my grandchildren? Can I do my own grocery shopping? Wendy was well-informed about the latest COVID-19 measures and would explain the situation in simple words. This turned out to be very successful. Ever since, we have been working on a total of seven different prototypes. And what makes it even more special: every new prototype contributes to the next one.’

‘For instance, we built BETSY for a Swedish hospital. BETSY is an anxiety and depression coach for people who are waiting for psychiatric treatment. We developed digital colleague Sophi for Philadelphia Zorg, to support professionals with the new scheduling system. We helped pharmaceutical company Janssen with our market research assistant JANE, to question doctors around Europe about their experience with a certain medicine. And recently we developed digital pharmacist Pharmi, a Digital Human who is available 24/7 for patients with a rheumatic disease, to answer their questions about the Methotrexaat medicine. Wrong use of medication is a major issue in the Netherlands’, Madeleine explains. ‘As many as 30 percent of the people who have visited a pharmacist don’t know how to use their medicine. A Digital Human is the perfect solution to help them. Pharmi provides information about side effects, explains how patients should take their medication, and tells you what to do if you’ve forgotten to take it.’

As a pioneer in this field, Madeleine is also involved in Business Development. ‘This is the future of customer interaction, it’s next level service. It really speeds up the process. A Digital Human can “go live” within five weeks. No wonder I’ve fallen in love with this innovation’, she smiles. ‘The Digital Human projects combine various aspects that make me passionate to work on them. First of all, it’s very special to work in a team that is allowed so much freedom, trust and responsibility to bring to market a new innovation. It’s almost like working at a start-up, but within a big corporate. Obviously, the combination of result orientation, pragmatism, innovation and strategy is the sweet spot. But there is also something else, on a more personal level. This innovation is aimed at human connection, empathy and valuable conversations. That is something we all recognise and strive for. To capture this in a product or service, and make it easily accessible is the kind of meaningfulness that I’m looking for in a job.’

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