Indra and Fundación Universia explore new accessible technologies to facilitate social and labour equality for people with disabilities
Indra joins forces once again with Fundación Universia, supported by Banco Santander, to invite research groups, centres and business schools attached to public or private universities of the Spanish university system to present their proposals on accessibility, science and technology in the 8th edition of the "Call for grants for research projects applied to the creation of new Accessible Technologies".
- Funding for the best proposals
- Innovation, sustainability and social impact
- Accessible technologies awarded in the previous call for proposals
This initiative is the result of the interest in promoting the development of innovative technological solutions that reduce the digital divide and improve the quality of life and the social and labour inclusion of people with disabilities. A model of collaboration between companies, universities and the third sector, which has resulted in the development of nearly 70 projects.
In the new call for applications, which has just been launched, you can participate by submitting your applications online until 14:00 on 3 April 2024 on the Accessible Technologies portal: http://www.tecnologiasaccesibles.com.
In Spain, Indra's call for grants for research projects in Accessible Technologies in collaboration with the Fundación Universia has established itself as the main technological event designed to generate solutions for people with disabilities. Since the first edition, nearly 100 research groups from public and private universities from all over the country have submitted more than 300 proposals.
Funding for the best proposals
In this 8th edition, the three best technological innovation proposals, belonging to different universities, will receive funding of 24,000 euros each for the development of their projects, which must have a maximum duration of 12 months.
As the main novelty this year, Indra and the Fundación Universia are launching a special category to boost the growth of a project that has already been a beneficiary in previous calls, with an extra contribution of 6,000 euros to help give continuity to their developments and bring them closer to the market.
The additional investment in the funding of this 8th Call represents an increase of 30% over the amounts awarded in the last edition.
Innovation, sustainability and social impact
An outstanding group of Indra's expert volunteers will carry out a first selection of finalist projects. In a second phase, a jury, made up of renowned professionals from disability-related fields, will choose the winning proposals.
The criteria for selecting the best proposals are: impact, scope and sustainability; innovation, technological excellence of the solution presented, viability and real transfer to products or services that do not yet exist in the market; collaboration with entities specialised in the field of disability and the possibility that the proposed product or service is "open source" and free or at a reduced cost for end users.
With this consolidated initiative, Indra and the Fundación Universia seek to explore and promote new technologies that improve the lives of the greatest possible number of people with disabilities, through ideas or solutions that can be scalable, subject to internationalisation and applicable in a real environment for the labour and social inclusion of this group.
Accessible technologies awarded in the previous call for proposals
The three winning projects of the 7th Call for Grants for Research Projects in Accessible Technologies, which are still active today, are:
- Cartagena University, recognised for the RoboTEA project, which aims to use social robots to remedy deficits in emotional processing. It focuses on rehabilitation in people with autism spectrum disorders, using robots, and considering neurobiofeedback technologies for this purpose.
- Rey Juan Carlos University, with its proposal Senlab-IA, which proposes a system for detecting and decoding labiofacial language using piezoresistive sensors based on polymers equipped with conductive carbon nanoparticles.
- University of Alicante, awarded for its Aiden Project. It consists of the creation of an assistant for the visually impaired based on artificial intelligence. This assistant, which will take the form of a Smartphone application, will use the latest artificial intelligence techniques to carry out four tasks that are useful for people with visual disabilities.
More information and access to the 8th Call for Accessible Technologies: http://www.tecnologiasaccesibles.com.universia