The ITU-EC Forum for Europe on "Accessible Europe: ICT for ALL" took place in Vienna, Austria, from 12 to 14 December 2018. This regional event for Europe was jointly organized by the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and European Commission (EC), and hosted by United Nations Vienna.
Accessible Europe was held within the framework of the implementation of the Regional Initiative for Europe on
Accessibility, affordability and skills development for all to ensure digital inclusion and sustainable development adopted by the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 and aimed at bridging the digital divide and equip all groups of society, including persons with disabilities and specific needs, to take advantage of ICT, by enabling capacity building in digital skills.
In the context of the above this Forum focused on further promoting the development of accessibility in countries and institutions, through the effort and cooperation of stakeholders and sharing successful outcomes of projects and initiatives already implemented, in order to interchange resources and solutions and make Europe region a more inclusive society. Telecommunications and the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have vital importance for people's empowerment and in promoting accessibility policies. The event highlighted the relevance of joining efforts to remove barriers and enable human development and social inclusion of persons with disabilities and special needs and other groups of people with specific needs, either through cooperation, programs and projects development, and generate partnerships, and training.
In line with this, the ITU and EC had joined efforts to encourage Governments, industry, Academia and other stakeholders to promote ICT accessibility in order to create fair and equal opportunities for all people and support a regional development agenda by treating ICT accessibility for people with specific needs and in particular persons with disabilities, as a cross‐cutting development issue.
The organizers of the event planned an effective integration of the participants in the activities of the programme.
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY for the Regional Competition for Europe : Innovative Digital Solutions for an Accessible Europe- Deadline is 29 November 2018
REQUEST YOUR BOOTH IN THE EXHIBITION SPACE - Deadline is 29 November 2018 [Submissions closed]
Announcement of Winners 1st Innovative Digital Solutions Competition for an Accessible Europe
The ITU Office for Europe is pleased to announce the Winners of the first Innovative Digital Solutions Competition for an Accessible Europe which was held by ITU in the realm of the co-organized ITU–EC regional forum Accessible Europe, hosted at UN Office Vienna, Austria.
From 52 submissions and 36 projects that entered the competition from 22 different countries – the following three were selected by the judging committee according to evaluating criteria as winners of the ITU organized 2018 Innovative Digital Solutions Competition for an Accessible Europe:
WINNER
EVA – Extended Visual Assistant by EVA Vision – from Hungary
www.eva.vision
EVA (Extended Visual Assistant) is a wearable mobility assistant for the blind and visually impaired. The device that resembles smart glasses, provides a multitude of services that assist in interpreting and interacting with your surroundings, orientation guidance, and handling phone calls and message services with a paired smart phone. [presentation]
RUNNER UP
Feelif – from Slovenia
https://www.feelif.com/
Feelif devices are adapted smartphones and tablets, which give blind and visually impaired people the ability to use digital content without limitations through haptic/tactile interaction with the device. [presentation]
RUNNER UP
Pedius – from Italy
www.pedius.org
Pedius provides phone calls for the deaf and hard of hearing. The communication service allows the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to make phone calls 24/7, through easy to use real time phone call transcription and text to speech service. [presentation]
Congratulations to the winners!
We thank all submitting organizations and particularly our three winning project representatives who joined the Accessible Europe Forum and presented their innovations at the awards ceremony with reception at UN Vienna on December 13, 2018.
