New project to support pregnant women between antenatal care visits

Vinnova has awarded SEK 2 million to a two-year project in Region Värmland that will develop and test digital support for pregnant women and their partners. The aim is to provide support between scheduled midwife appointments, when questions, worry and fear are often managed without professional support.

Värmland, 3 november 2026 – The project brings together Region Värmland, Karlstad University, Omaia AB and Chalmers Industriteknik. It started on 2 November 2026 and will run until October 2028.

"Physical development during pregnancy is closely monitored, but emotional concerns are often managed by families themselves between appointments. Together with midwives, researchers and expectant families in Värmland, we now want to understand what kind of support actually helps. We will be clear about what we know and what we don't yet know ", says Nina Larsen, CEO and co-founder of Omaia AB.

About Omaia Sense

Omaia Sense is an app that offers emotional support for the whole journey into parenthood, before, during and after pregnancy. It has short self-guided exercises for everyday worry and stress, developed with midwives and psychologists and based on established CBT and ACT methods.

Maia, an AI companion in the app, answers questions with evidence-informed information and points to care when it is needed. Partners and co-parents get their own program and a support guide from the person they support, who decides what is shared.

Omaia Sense supports emotional wellbeing. It doesn’t diagnose, treat or replace care. In the project, the app is the starting point that midwives, researchers and expectant families in Värmland will shape together.

Support between scheduled appointments

Värmland is a geographically large and sparsely populated region, where distance can affect access to support during pregnancy.

Region Värmland coordinates the project and represents the healthcare need. Karlstad University leads the research, Omaia develops the digital platform, and Chalmers Industriteknik contributes expertise in technology development, co-creation and evaluation.

The project will also explore how AI can be used in a transparent and responsible way, with particular attention to traceability, explainability and potential bias.

The support is intended for pregnant women and their partners or co-parents, across different family constellations.

Studying the needs of families and healthcare professionals

Following ethics approval, the project plans to study how pregnant women experience the support and how midwives view its use in clinical practice.

The project will also examine organisational and health-economic questions that would need to be addressed before any broader implementation.

Results will be shared openly and used in the continued development of Omaia Sense, for expectant parents and maternal healthcare.

Omaia is part of the CO-AX Accelerator at Sahlgrenska Science Park, where the company receives support in its continued development and access to networks across healthcare, research, business development and investment. The project is an example of the kind of collaboration between companies, healthcare and academia that Sahlgrenska Science Park works to enable.

About the project

The project Co-creation of a resilient digital portal for perinatal mental health is funded by Vinnova through the call Collaborative projects for healthy and resilient societies.

Vinnova funding: SEK 2,000,000
Project period: 2 November 2026–31 October 2028
Coordinator: Region Värmland
Project manager: Karin Ängeby
Partners: Region Värmland, Karlstad University, Omaia AB and Chalmers Industriteknik
Project number: 2026-02584

More information and images: Omaia.ai