ITU organizes a Forum on "Innovative Digital Solutions for an Accessible Europe: Fostering Growth of Start-ups," in Vienna, Austria, as part of the Zero Project Conference, on 19 February 2020 from 15:00 to 16:30 at the UN Office in Vienna.
ICTs have a vital role for ALL people's empowerment and represent an enabler for inclusion in society. For persons with disabilities (PwD), accessible, innovative digital solutions remove barriers and assist this community in gaining independence in their daily life.
During the second iteration of Accessible Europe 2019, 15 innovative solutions have been selected as the runner-ups of the Accessible Europe competition.
As ITU's role is to foster innovation and create an enabling ICT-centric ecosystem for all, ITU, along with its partners, will support the runner-ups of Accessible Europe. This includes assisting those start-ups in need to prove their effectiveness and uniqueness, promote their solutions to relevant users, access the ITU community, and offer them the opportunity to present their innovative solutions throughout the year.
Two ITU Regional Initiatives for Europe on ICT Accessibility for PwD and on ICT-Centric Innovation Ecosystems converge to address the concrete implementation of innovative ICT Accessibility solutions. This is why on the occasion of the Zero Project Conference, as part of its Curation Programme, ITU has invited 5 of the runner-ups to build a session and present their innovative solutions to the community. This interactive panel discussion explores what is needed to build an ecosystem supporting innovative ICT Accessibility solutions, shares experiences, and provide a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced in developing Accessible ICT solutions.
