The year 2022 was filled with projects and collaboration at Akinox. Whether it’s the development of new solutions, staff growth, or the modernization of our new branding, to name a few of our accomplishments, we are proud of all our achievements and the recognition we have received. Find out, in 10 key moments, the retrospective of the year 2022 of Akinox:
Many Innovative Projects to Improve the Patient Experience
Akinox is committed to its mission of putting technology at the service of health and using innovation to transform healthcare systems. Indeed, we want to make a real difference by improving the patient experience and simplifying the daily life of healthcare professionals with digital, modern and collaborative solutions. To get closer to this goal, we had developed four major projects in 2022 to address various needs of the healthcare community.
1.1. Continuation of the Pandemic Project in Collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Institut national de la santé publique du Québec
Despite the numerous relaxations of sanitary measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus is still circulating and affecting the world population on a daily basis.
In the beginning of the year 2022, our experts contributed to the development of the COVID-19 Self-Reporting Portal in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) and the Institut national de la santé publique du Québec (INSPQ). This portal was developed mainly for self-reporting of positive cases in the Québec population. It was also used by health institutions to get a picture of the number of cases of infected people. It adds to the many features of the COVID-19 pandemic response platform deployed over the past two years.
Here are some statistics:
- More than 300,000 citizens have reported their COVID-19 rapid test results through the self-reporting portal;
- More than 400,000 COVID-19 test result follow-ups have been done via the solution by several dozen healthcare institutions and organizations that perform COVID-19 testing directly in their location;
- More than 500,000 infected individuals were tracked by approximately 2,600 healthcare professionals each day via the platform.
To discover our pandemic response solution, visit the Akinox Pandemix page.
1.2. The Launch of the Provincial Virtual Care Platform in Collaboration With the Ministry of Health and Social Services
2022 was also the year of the launch of the Virtual Care Platform development project in collaboration with the MSSS. It is a platform whose main objective is the management of the complete cycle of virtual care trajectories, which allows a better management of virtual consultations and interprofessional exchanges and also ensures the management and coordination of complex care and service trajectories. The platform also contributes to the continuity of information exchange, interprofessional collaboration, and the optimization of work processes.
Akinox has also worked on the deployment of the asynchronous teleconsultations module for the dermatology trajectory. This module is designed to improve patient management and promote collaboration and information transfer between general practitioners and dermatologists. It offers greater accessibility to dermatological consultations by allowing asynchronous teleconsultations as well as the transmission of photos and clinical information to specialists by requesting physicians. User-friendly operational dashboards have also been put in place to assist healthcare professionals. Finally, an intuitive portal has been designed for patients to give them easy access and greater autonomy.
To learn more about the goals and technological vision of the virtual care platform, watch our workshop given on May 13, 2022, at the First-Line in Health Convention.
Since its launch in pilot mode, more than 350 general practitioners are already active in the platform and regularly request teleconsultations with specialists. As a result, more than 1,000 teleconsultations requests have been made so far, the majority of which were processed within 7 to 14 days by the dermatologists.
“With the highly secure platform acquired by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, some well-targeted clinical information and some well-taken clinical photos, that's enough for dermatologists to be able to make a diagnosis and suggest a course of action to the doctor who, himself, assessed the patient.”
Dr Dominique Hanna, President of Québec Association of Dermatologists
To discover our virtual care platform, visit the Akinox Telemedix page.
1.3. New Features Under the Provincial Agir Tôt Project
Throughout 2022, Akinox kept adding more features to the Agir tôt platform. It is a diagnostic platform for early childhood disorders developed by the Québec government in collaboration with Akinox and intended to help children aged 0 to 5 years old. The platform is designed to identify early development problems in young children as quickly as possible. The technology simplifies and optimizes complex diagnostic processes, including automated specialized questionnaires.
In 2022, the provincial deployment of the ABCdaire 18+ months took place. It is a new questionnaire to monitor children’s development at their 18-month vaccination appointment. This makes it possible to detect potential developmental difficulties at an early stage and to refer children adequately to appropriate services.
We have also enhanced the closure of the screening cycles with the integration of the “Child Development Profile Report". This report details the assessment of a user following a screening cycle and their referral to customizable services. Clinical practitioners can now easily choose where they wish to refer the child based on his or her profile.
The platform was deployed in 27 new healthcare facilities in 2022. We have also successfully reached the milestone of 15,000 completed cycles since the launch of the platform.
To learn more about our screening solution, visit the Akinox Diagnostix page.
1.4. The Launch of the Digital Primary Care Access Point in Collaboration With the Ministry of Health and Social Services
In order to help health professionals and the Québec population waiting for a family doctor, Akinox participated in the development of the Digital Primary Care Access Point (Guichet d'accès à la première ligne numérique or GAP numérique), in collaboration with the Québec Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Through automated questionnaires that capture the referral needs of users, the Digital Primary Care Access Point helps to guide patients to the appropriate frontline resources. The goal is to make faster referrals while increasing the relevance of cases sent to family doctors. The solution also displays additional information for referrals on a variety of topics such as prescription renewals, immunizations and family planning, to name a few.
Since its launch in the fall of 2022, more than 140,000 referrals have already been made. The service offer will be constantly improved during the year of 2023 and we invite you to consult the platform regularly to see its evolution.
Numerous Conferences to Share Our Expertise and Presence in Person at Major Industry Events
Throughout 2022, we had the opportunity to participate in numerous in-person digital health events to meet with our partners, customers and collaborators to talk about innovation and digital health. Our team of experts was present at more than 10 events in major cities across Québec, including Québec City, Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe and Sherbrooke. Here is a brief summary of the various Akinox events in 2022:
- In March 2022, we participated in the first edition of the Performance et valorisation des données (Performance and Value of Data) Conference, where we were present all day to meet our partners and collaborators. In addition, we animated a workshop entitled “Technology and Innovation in the Fight Against the Pandemic – The Power of Partnerships”, led by Tania Gobeil, our speaker and business analyst, and Barbara Philippot, one of our business intelligence specialists. We provided feedback on how the availability and value of data helped in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Two months later, in May 2022, we were present at the First-Line in Health Healthcare Convention with a booth to answer questions and interact with attendees. We also presented a workshop entitled "The Provincial Virtual Care Platform: An Opportunity to Build Together the Future of Digital Health". Alexander Dahl, president and founder of Akinox, Mathieu Tougas, product manager, and Antoinette Ghanem, representative of the “Centre d'Opérationnalisation-Plateforme de Soins Virtuels” (Operation Center-Virtual Care Platform), presented the new virtual care platform developed by Akinox in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services and took advantage of the workshop to discuss the future of digital health with participants.
- In June 2022, we participated in the e-Health Conference & Tradeshow, one of the largest digital health events in the country, where we presented a virtual conference in English entitled “Building the Apps That Beat TikTok, Facebook and Instagram”. In addition, we highlighted how the VaxiCode application, an immunization accreditation solution, has become one of the top Canadian downloads and has helped to facilitate social activities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In November 2022, our experts were present at two other major events: The Infoway Partnership Conference, held during the Digital Health Week, where we had the chance to share and discuss with attendees the lessons learned over the past two years in digital health solutions, and the Informatique Santé Symposium. The Akinox team was also honoured to share its expertise once again at the Informatique Santé Symposium and present the workshop "The Provincial Virtual Care Platform: An Opportunity to Build Together the Future of Digital Health", led by Alexander Dahl, our president and founder, Tania Gobeil, speaker and business analyst at Akinox, and Ms. Isabelle Poulin, Director of Information Technology Projects Execution at the Ministry of Health and Social Services. Participants were able to attend the presentation of the first phases of the provincial virtual care platform developed by Akinox in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services and learn about the challenges encountered and resolved during its deployment.
- Among the other conferences and workshops given by our experts during 2022, let’s highlight the very popular workshop given by our speaker and business analyst Tania Gobeil entitled “Extreme Agile: From Lines of Code to Lines of Press” presented three times: at the WAQ (Web à Québec) 2022, at the JIQ (Journée Informatique Québec) 2022 and the Agile Sherbrooke 2022 conference. This workshop presents how Akinox managed, in record time and in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, to develop digital solutions with a massive and major impact on an entire population.
Akinox Rebrands
2022 was a year of visual changes for Akinox. Indeed, we have modernized our logo, our brand image and our website to further reflect our vision, our values and our many projects.
For the modernization of our logo, we wanted an iconography that resembles us and that represents Akinox and its various projects. Following several months of work and collaboration, in May 2022, we unveiled our new logo, which illustrates both our four core solutions (Pandemic Response Solution, Virtual Care, Early Child Disability Screening and Digital Health Automation), our four values (Benevolence, Collaboration, Equity and Authenticity), as well as our field and industry. The new colours were chosen to represent our dynamism, trust, respect and collaborative spirit; elements that are precious to us through each partnership and project.
Our website needed new content to better represent the variety of our solutions and expertise, as well as a more flexible CMS. In the summer of 2022, we launched our new website, with detailed information about our flexible, agile and scalable platform, our mission and vision, our blog or careers at Akinox.
Our communication, digital content and branding are now more reflective of our vision, values, projects and mission to put technology at the service of health for better patient care in Canada and internationally.
New Awards and Recognitions for Our Innovation Capacity
Thanks to our capacity for innovation, the collaboration of our experts and our agility in deploying our solutions, in 2022, Akinox was honoured to be nominated for two prestigious technology and innovation industry awards: the Fidéides Awards and the ADRIQ Innovation 2022 Awards.
- Organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Québec, the Fidéides Awards recognize the companies that have distinguished themselves the most in their field in 2022. The Akinox team is proud and grateful to have been a finalist in the “High Technology” This is a great distinction for all the people who have been working hard for the past few years. In addition, we were privileged to receive a letter of recognition for our work from the Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, Mr. Jonatan Julien.
- The ADRIQ Innovation 2022 Awards highlights the innovative aspect of Québec companies. We were finalists in the “Innovation | SME (less than 500 employees)” category alongside other innovative companies in Québec. It is with great pleasure that we won the award in the presence of Mr. Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy. This victory underlines the efforts of all our employees, experts and partners to put innovation at the service of the transformation of healthcare professionals and to improve the experience of patients, who are at the heart of all our solutions.
Two Major Certificates for Akinox
This year, Akinox has received new certifications that support and guarantee the company’s compliance with international quality standards.
As of April 2022, we have obtained the ISO 9001 certification, which specifies the requirements for the quality management system of organizations, regardless of its type or size.
Two months later, in June 2022, Akinox also received the ISO/IEC 27001 certification, which confirms that the company meets the requirements for information security management systems (ISMS).
These certifications guarantee compliance with the standards and security norms established for each project and the implementation of specific processes for each development and deployment.
Equity and Sharing of Expertise More Than Ever at the Heart of Akinox
Women continued to take their place in 2022 at Akinox. Of the strategic leaders who meet regularly to discuss strategies and project progress, half are women. Being a company that operates in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) industry, where 75% of the workers are men, Akinox advocated equity. To our great delight, women are becoming more and more important in technology companies and we are there when it is time to welcome and integrate them.
Knowledge sharing is also very important at Akinox. Our experts are committed to sharing their knowledge and expertise with the community, especially with collaborators who are new to the job market. In order to encourage this transfer of knowledge, our recruitment team participated for the first time in 2022 in the Virtual Internship and Job Day at the École de technologie supérieure de Montréal (Montréal School of Higher Technology or ETS) and invited several interns to join the Akinox adventure.
More Gatherings Thanks to Relaxed Health Regulations
In 2022, the relaxation of health measures allowed face-to-face activities and facilitated options for social interaction, allowing us to hold the first annual all-city Akinox gathering. Our experts were invited to a weekend at a resort with their families to celebrate the achievements of the past year. Outdoor activities such as team sports, kayaking and hiking were offered to all those who wanted to take advantage of the good weather, while having fun with colleagues. Team activities were also organized to reinforce the sense of belonging and team synergy.
Akinox also launched the option of coworking in 2022. Indeed, our experts now have the possibility to work face-to-face with colleagues if they wish in coworking spaces. Whether in Montréal, Québec City or Sherbrooke, in collaboration with Regus, offices are available for team meetings. This new concept is very popular and offers another option to encourage collaboration, teamwork and sharing of expertise.
Three Important Health-Related Causes Supported by Akinox
Benevolence and equity are two of the four core values at Akinox. This year, we have decided to highlight three very important causes related to our values and health, which are International Women’s Rights Day, Pink October and Movember. To support its causes, Akinox has asked for the voluntary participation of its experts in various activities to donate to foundations that conduct scientific research to fight diseases that specifically affect women, such as breast and ovarian cancer, and men, such as prostate and testicular cancer and depression.
In March 2022, Akinox donated 2,800$ to the Canadian Women’s Foundation, a foundation whose mission is to assist local organizations in all regions of Canada to support women, girls and people of diverse gender identities facing poverty, violence, discrimination and other forms of inequality.
In October, we organized an activity to raise funds for the McGill University Health Centre Foundation. During this activity, we asked our experts to wear pink in support of the cause, pink being the colour symbol of Pink October. At the end of the month, a sum of 2,000$ was donated to the foundation thanks to the collaboration and benevolence of the Akinox team.
Movember was also highlighted this year by Akinox. As for the month of October, the Akinox team mobilized to help two organizations: the Canadian Cancer Society and Autonhommie, a resource centre for men. November highlights the fight against diseases considered masculine, such as prostate and testicular cancer, but also emphasizes the mental and physical health of men. In order to encourage our team to be physically active, we launched a challenge; every kilometre we ran was matched by a donation to the two foundations. At the end of the month, we raised 2,000$ which was donated to the organizations.
We are proud to have such a committed and caring team. Our experts are always ready to support important health-related social causes.
Our Annual Corporate Hackathon
In April 2022, we conducted the first Akinox Benevolence Hackathon. During this event, the different teams collaborated for a whole day to find innovative ideas and solutions for applications or new services related to health. In addition to encouraging the exchange and sharing of expertise among experts, it also improved team synergy and collaboration among colleagues.
The first Akinox Benevolence Hackathon was a great success and we intend to continue doing it every year.
Physical Health is Important
The practice of sports and physical activities is essential for good physical and mental health. As a health-related company, Akinox encourages its employees to engage in regular physical activities.
In March 2022, we created the first Akinox soccer team. Indeed, our team participated in the Québec/Lévis 2022 Corporate Soccer Tournament, where we were able to showcase our talent alongside various companies from the Québec and Lévis region. We did not win the cup, but we had a lot of fun together. We are already looking forward to the next tournament and maybe bring back the cup.
For the second year in a row, Akinox also participated in the Business Challenge, a three-month health program for companies that want to adopt healthy lifestyle habits in the workplace. For 12 weeks, the Akinox team was able to accumulate active minutes through physical activity while competing with other participating companies. At the end of the three months, gatherings were held in four different cities for the final event. This event was a success and inspired our experts to get moving and stay active.
Finally, Akinox was invited by Propulsion Sport to participate in the test phase of their new Propulsion application. Competing with other participating companies in this test phase, Akinox members were encouraged to accumulate active minutes. This test phase lasted several weeks and had a high participation rate. Of the 20 participating companies, Akinox is among the three with the most points accumulated.
We will always continue to encourage sport and physical activity daily among our experts for good physical and mental health.
What is Coming in 2023...
In 2023, Akinox will continue its mission to put innovation at the service of healthcare by developing and deploying more and more innovative technological solutions to help governments digitalize healthcare institutions and organizations, and simplify the daily lives of healthcare professionals and patients.
In addition to continuing the development of the provincial virtual care platform, the deployment of the Primary Care Access Point and adding new functionalities to the Agir tôt platform, we will continue to share our experience and expertise at major industry events across Canada. In particular, at the e-Health Conference & Tradeshow, which will take place in person in Toronto.
In addition, we will continue to work towards our mission, vision and values in all of our projects and collaborations, in order to keep our focus on a healthier and more inclusive world. Finally, we will keep on encouraging teamwork and collaboration, because together we go further.
