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A short talk given in the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

The start up, development and potential progress of a technology company manufacturing upper limb prosthetics is outlined. Pilot projects were set up and that in Sierra Leone is briefly described. It began with developing a network, listening to users comments, redeveloping the product and representing it to users. The challenges of the next step into larger scale manufactuing and supply, following positive outcomes from pilot projects round the world, are outlined. 

A short talk given in the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023

The importance of making accessibility a reality by default is highlighted in the context of business development. Long and short term economics are talked about. Internships and flexibility in job descriptions are highlighted. 

Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions [13th & 14th Sept 2023]. Bringing together global experts and new voices to share big ideas and ask the question: What next for disability innovation?

DAY 1: Sharing big ideas and powerful insights

Disability innovation today...the good, the bad, the untold

Inclusive infrastructure: can cities be inclusive?
Innovation: are ecosystems ready to scale for success?
Participation and leadership: No tech about us, without us
What fails: and what's not needed. Disability dongles, failure or learning curve
What works: and why

DAY 2: Exploring a new horizon

Disability innovation tomorrow...what next

Disability justice: a disability innovation ambition or contradiction?
Para sport: a vehicle for community level social change?
Systems Strengthening, Disability innovation and Finance: is it possible to create the mechanisms for change?
Future tech: revolutionary solutions and AI – the new face of disability inclusion?

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

A short talk highlighting Inclusive Innovation at Google.

Topics highlighted in the approach taken are: AI; "nothing about us without us"; get started on one thing; this is a process.

Products briefly outlined are: automated captions; real time captions (Google Meet) in 14 languages; interlanguage translation (14 languages); on the phone, live transcribe (80 languages); the ability of the phone to inform deaf people of sounds e.g. laughter, appliances going off; and phone live captioning. 

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Outcomes of the first 5 years of the AT2030 project are summarised including: 15 AT country capacity surveys; 11 new assistive technologies; 31 AT ventures brought to sustainability and 70 journal papers. Funding thus far and for the future is also discussed.

Work to supply hearing aids to those with hearing loss in the global south, particularly in South Africa is outlined. Areas highlighted include: work with suppliers; work to ignite innovation and provide products at scale; work with UNICEF and the procurement catalogue; work with HEARX to provide screening and aid fine tuning via a phone app to enable community health AT service.

Questions from the audience highlight issues surrounding acquiring AT in the emergency/humanitarian setting  

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Challenges in the development and bringing to market of functional, affordable, high quality AT devices are outlined. The development of the manual standing wheelchair and the lessons learnt in taking it from prototype to market (using the GRID model) are introduced. The challenges of affordability and of awareness of AT including by professionals is highlighted. The work of the National Centre for Assistive Health Technologies (NCAHT at AIIMS, New Delhi) including experience zones of architectural barriers where people can try wheelchars on different surfaces and realise that disability is imposed by the environment is briefly described. Wheelchair skills training and community outings are part of the centre. Other topics mentioned include: the need to normalise disability; the need for collaborations; funders; scalability; fragmented markets and the need to access global markets 

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Innovate Now and innovation drivers, the role of innovators, the innovation ecosystem, and access to funders are introduced.

A series of short talks concerned with local innovation and production of AT devices in Nepal given by representatives of members of the associated ecosystem. A short history of the projects is presented. The devastating earthquake in 2015 and COVID both demonstrated the necessity for local innovation, production, repair and maintenance of AT. Three workstreams are ongoing: codesigning for individual needs; manual wheelchairs; and repair and spare part production. The need to develop local OT services in Nepal, particularly of bespoke provision, codesigning with the user to ensure achievable goals with a developed therapeutic intervention plan, is highlighted. Innovative AT associated with the knee joint and a diabetic foot and also a temperature monitoring device are shown and problems with local product validation are highlighted.  Ram Chandra Thapa (founder of Zener Technologies) describes the use of 3D printing in emergency engineering situations. He briefly describes his current project concerning wheelchairs, outlining associated difficulties, the local production ecosystem and the assessment of which parts are the most important for maintenance needs. The need for training and also finance to take a product from innovation to production are mentionned.

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Three models of disability innovation start-up are introduced based on 8 years of experience mainly in the area of the education of children with disabilities in Ghana. The models are: the community centred approach; the student led approach; and the hybrid model which is revenue driven. Outcomes and difficulties are briefly discussed.