English | EN Defi H: Innovation to promote Digital Inclusive Approach
Dec 2, 2013
More than a contest between universities, more than mere Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
“Our vision is of inclusive development and a society in which persons with disabilities, as both agents and beneficiaries of development efforts, can maximize the use of ICTs to fully access healthcare serv ices, benefit at all educational levels, be competitive in the labour market, participate in public life and live independently” Abstract of ‘The ict Opportunity for a Disability-Inclusive Development Framework’ September, 2013.
Based on the idea that we have to maximize the use of technologies for all and that this will help everybody access information services without excluding anyone due to disability, we have launched the third edition of Defi H on December, 2nd 2014: a five month competition featuring a school, a team, and a non-profit organization specializing in supporting disabled people.
This will be a new adventure for seven teams developing innovative projects. The trophy promotes the professional integration of people with disabilities. It encourages the use of today’s advanced technology and computing tools to imagine innovative ways to facilitate the professional integration of people with disabilities. The key goals of this contest are:
- Generating ideas and innovative concepts in this context.
- The development and demonstration of these ideas through prototypes and simulations to give meaning to these ideas in collaboration with non-profits working for the professional integration of people with disabilities.
- Awareness and implementation of financial and economic models.
- Support throughout the entire course of the project with appropriate communication and an emphasis on progress and project inputs but also on problems encountered.
Applications will be collective, with a maximum of four students per team from the same school/university.
The Non-Profit will be selected based on the innovative technology solution suggested by the Students’ Team. Thus, the Non-Profit will provide functional expertise based on a real life application.
Sogeti’s coaches will be well-known experts and key team members.They will allow students to explore project management with the proven tools and methods of experienced professionals.
As usual when you decide to launch this kind of initiative (the first edition was in 2012), plenty of questions and doubts will rise:
Is it an interesting idea ? Will we have participants? Innovative proposal and projects? Will we fail? As usual, actions have replaced the questions, and we are now in the concrete phase to transform our great idea into a tremendous project. This phase is really exciting and will reveal talents, issues, and, finally, the product and services we need to address accessibility for disabled workers.
Year after year, I am convinced that defi H contest is a great opportunity for young students, non-profit organizations and companies like Sogeti to create and build a common momentum around this subject and install this initiative for a long time.
How to install this contest in the future and generate a continuous flow of ideas, projects and services is the challenge. Based on Return on two years of experience, I am sure that it’s possible, including new features and (European extension, specific certifications…)
Organizing the follow-up of projects after each edition is a good way to maintain the red line and the mindset of the defi H as well. Some examples below:
AMC project has been used to create a start-up, (AmiwheelChair project – Defi H 2012) Topic : embed sensors and other technologies in order to manage efforts and provide people with localized information—the Internet of things application used for helping disabled people.
The Phonofeel Team (Defi h 2013) has enriched the prototype to create a simple and useful tool on Tablet and smartphone to facilitate the integration people with communication issues due to accident or disease.
The Contact Team (Defi h 2013) has used and won another challenge and start-up contest. They have provided a solution on Tablet using the Macaton universal language.
I hope that this new edition, as the two previous ones, will emphasize new ideas and concrete projects and reflect this “positive” movement.
Read the Synthesis report of the ICT Consultation in support of the High-Level Meeting on Disability and Development of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly to have more details on “The ICT Opportunity for a Disability-Inclusive Development Framework.”
For French people you can follow the contest on www.defih.com and on twitter using #defih tag. I hope that an extension of the defi H scope to other European countries will be engaged.
Sogeti has co-organized Defi H with Le monde Informatique (www.lemondeinformatique.fr) and includes great partners such as :
- Adapt : www.ladapt.net – www.travaillerensemble.net
- Tremplin : www.tremplin-handicap.fr
- La Fondation Garches www.handicap.org
- Exéco : www.execo-france.fr/index.php
About the author
