Assistive Technologies and Inclusive Solutions for All

1. Assistive Technologies and Inclusive Solutions for All Session 3: Focus on R&D Community Votis Konstantinos CERTH/ITI Madrid, Spain 14th and 15th March, 2011

2. Setting up the “R&D community” What is the ATIS4ALL R&D community? • An online meeting point for key actors interested in interacting, and providing and accessing to relevant information in the field of R&Dand cutting edge technologies applied to the ICT ATs and inclusive solutions(e.g. accessible products and services, etc.) • Contains • R&D Tools and Resources Repository (Web 2.0 applications such as forums, blogs, key actors participation tools). • Relevant AT information (AT papers, software, services, relevant content, AT projects, etc..) according to key actors needs and preferences.

3. Setting up the “R&D community” Impact of the ATIS4ALL R&D community • Provision of relevant information for AT researchers and developers (through the collection of research project outcomes, related developments and initiatives, study findings, public reports, relevant papers, etc.). • Exchange of information, knowledge and expertise among researchers, developers and producers • Open discussion and the collaborative work, enabling mainstream IT developers to create more accessible products, etc. • Augmenting the mutual knowledge of the key actors in the chain value of ATs and accessibility products • Facilitating the consensus-reaching on harmonised interoperability requirements, etc. • Provision of a meeting point where the key actors can openly discuss and obtain feedback on their findings, ideas and beta products and establish professional relationships

4. Setting up the “R&D community” Identify the key actors • Main objective is to Raise awareness, identify and involve the key actors as active members in the ATIS4all R&D network, portal and repository • “key actors”, refers to all those key organisations and persons who participate, directly or indirectly, in the AT ICT European industry including: • End-users or associations of actual or potential ICT users (while paying special attention to users with disabilities and / or elderly users) • ICT and AT software manufacturers, developers and vendors • ICT and technology-oriented organisations, industry • Standardization and certification bodies • Relevant public administrations and institutions promoting and supporting the use of AT and accessible services and products. • Research institutes and academia (including representatives of leading R&D projects) • Public and private providers of ICT-enabled services, e.g. online services, and customers • Organizations providing information on AT

5. Setting up the “R&D community” Identify the key actors

6. Setting up the “R&D community” Identify the key actors • Who are the main organizations that have to be contacted in ATIS4all to obtain information and involve them as active members of the “R&D Community” in the portal? European organizations are a priority, but, we have to cover also non-European organizations Examples of Some Relevant users’ associations: • European Disability Forum, AGE platform, AAL forum Ambient Assisted Living, National Federation of the Blind of the UK, ONCE, Employers Forum on Disability, etc. • Representatives from technology-oriented organisations, industry, standardisation bodies: • AAATE, Apple, Codefactory, Google, Keytools, Microsoft, Nokia. Oracle, Vodafone, Optelec, Open Forum Europe, CEN, CENTAC, W3C….. • Representatives from R&D EC, national projects: • The AEGIS project, ACCESSIBLE, VERITAS, INREDIS, eAccess+,AAL programme projects, Relevant ICT Policy Support Programme pilots (APSIS4all, DTV4all, etc.), EU studies (MeAC)

7. Setting up the “R&D community” What are the topics that are going to interest the R&D Community (setting the structure of the R&D Community) • We need to identify: • essential needs of the key actors • hot R&D topics and trends From the technological point of view, the basic pillars should be identified by taking into account as a first step the already-running Study on Monitoring eAccessibility in Europe 2009-2011, Study on implications from future ICT trends on assistive technology and accessibility, eAccess+ and ePractice community, key actors and EC feedback, and the expertise of the consortium partners, etc.. Nevertheless other horizontal trends (such as interoperability, ubiquity, multimodality, personalization, and cloud computing) which affect one or several technology categories will be analyzed.

8. Setting up the “R&D community” What are the topics that are going to interest the R&D Community (setting the structure of the R&D Community)

9. Setting up the “R&D community” What are the topics that are going to interest the R&D Community (setting the structure of the R&D Community) Our proposed scope will cover lessons learned and the prospective views from currently running projects on the field (such as eAccess+, AEGIS, ACCESSIBLE, VERITAS, INREDIS) or initiatives in the AT/e-Accessibility (such as G3ICT, Raising the Floor and National Public Inclusive Infrastructure) along all the relevant areas (e.g. from several national projects and successful business cases). Example:

10. Setting up the “R&D community” • Need for coordination mechanisms and sharing of knowledge among AT developers to avoid duplicity of efforts R&D ATIS4all community focus through tools and repository: • Assess the impact of ICT innovation on the evolution of assistive technology/ e-Accessibility on companies, industries and the economy in general (especially with regard to productivity, growth, competitiveness and organizational changes). • Highlight the importance of mainstreaming, standardization and Design for All to AT ICT stakeholders. • Highlight barriers to ICT uptake, i.e. issues that are hindering a faster and/or more effective use of AT/ e-Accessibility trends by firms in Europe (to identify also potential new risks of exclusion due to lack of e-Accessibility in new technologies). • Engage in dialogue with the wide range of relevant stakeholders who are users or who are from associations of users with disabilities or associations of elderly people, ICT and assistive technology manufacturers as well as vendors, industry and public or private institutions which support the use of assistive technology.

11. Setting up the “R&D community” Open discussion/brainstorming • Identifying key actors, topics, trends,… • Can the ATIS4all R&D community contribute to reduce the high purchasing costs of ATs? How? • R&D projects face barriers to bringing their outcomes to the AT market.