Costs & Benefits of an AI/IT Tool for the Swedish Antibiotics Supply Chain : An AI/IT Tool to address shortages of Antibiotics in Sweden

Sammanfattning: Sweden faces shortages in antibiotics. Shortages are caused due to a variety of reasons. Due to low profit margins and opportunity costs, antibiotic supply chains may experience a lack of competition. Lack of competition across the various stages of supply chains leads to fragility in the supply chain which ultimately results in shortages. Lack of communication is another such factor leading to shortages. Incorporating an AI/IT system across the supply chain would help prevent the occurrence of shortages by addressing such factors.  PLATINEA, an innovation platform, aims to address the threat of anti-microbial resistance by ensuring a steady supply of antibiotics. Their work package 4 is dedicated to eliminating risk factors or causes of shortages that arise from supply chains of antibiotics. PLATINEA has drafted a mind map to identify the risk factors or causes of shortages in Sweden. This thesis revolves around conducting a cost benefit analysis for implementing an AI/IT tool that addresses the risk factors and causes of shortages identified from the mind map that stem from the Swedish supply chains of antibiotics. A model consisting of a breakdown in costs and benefits was created. The model not only helped us frame the various costs and benefits, but also evolved during the research to help us structure our results better. An AI/IT tool has been devised keeping the risk factors and causes of shortage in mind. This tool has four versions that have varying levels of integration and automation. Semi-structured Interviews were conducted with experts in the field of artificial Intelligence and machine learning. calculation based on historical data were made to determine costs of shortages and to some extent, visualize the extent of costs involved in antibiotic resistance. Based on the information gathered from the interviews and literatures, the costs and benefits identified in the model are addressed, including the significant benefit of reducing cost of shortages.