Column by Marianne Thellersen, Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at DTU, and Marianne Kofoed, Director of Bevica Fonden. Published at borsen.dk on 30 November 2022.
Most people know the pleasure of not having to lift a finger. People with mobility disabilities know the feeling of not being able to use their fingers at all.
Both target groups can be catered for by the company Obital, which has developed the Eyetell app, which allows the user to navigate and communicate on a screen by sight, without using their fingers. For example, a person with muscular dystrophy can write a sentence and have it read aloud just by focusing their gaze on the screen. Similarly, a traveller can check in at the airport without risking coronavirus infection.
The app is aimed at people with mobility difficulties—and everyone else. It’s the first of its kind that’s affordable and available to anyone, and it’s a textbook example of how to develop a technology that’s based on the needs of a minority but can be used by everyone.
The principle behind this is called universal design, and it was first formulated in the 1980s by the architect and wheelchair user Ronald Mace. The purpose was to avoid stigma by designing solutions that include as many different kinds of people as possible. However, today we still surround ourselves with solutions that divide us into ‘ideal people’ and ‘disabled’.
For example, when a wheelchair user takes a train, they first have to ask for help to have a ramp set up, then face the unwanted attention when the train’s departure is postponed. If a person with difficulties walking has to go to the doctor, they have to contend with the fact that four out of ten Danish health centres don’t have disabled access.
It’s time to change the way society’s infrastructure is organized. The third of December is the International Day of People with Disabilities—and we’re taking the opportunity to raise awareness of the potential of inclusive solutions.
Good business
It's not that there’s a lack of focus on diversity. The Danish Chamber of Commerce has a diversity policy that addresses the need for increased inclusion in entrepreneurial contexts. At the same time, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals - whose basic motto is Leave No One Behind - have actualized the universal principle of creating equal rights for all regardless of gender, race, religion, sexuality, or disability.
Diversity will be on the agenda in future. But sustainable development in the area of disability is slow. According to the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the rights of people with disabilities in ten key areas - including equality, mobility, and accessibility - have declined or remained unchanged over the past ten years.
If this inequality is reflected in the way we think about innovation, it doesn’t just mean that an entire part of the population will be let down. It also means missing out on good business.
According to VIVE, the Danish Centre for Social Science Research, 31 per cent of Danes report that they live with a disability. In addition, an analysis from Local Government Denmark (KL) shows that the proportion of elderly people over the age of 80 will increase by 161,000 people by 2030, which will most likely increase the number of people with disabilities. A company that can reach these people can open up for a diversity of market segments that are often overlooked in mainstream business thinking.
For the company Obital, this meant a profitable sale of the business to GN Groups, the world leader in intelligent communication solutions, in 2021.
Getting companies on board
If more companies are to fulfil their potential, it requires a break with the notion of "the ideal human being”. At DTU and at the Bevica Foundation, we believe that knowledge sharing and strong collaborations across study programmes, organizations, and companies are the way forward.
Since 2019, in collaboration with the Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark, we’ve worked to make inclusion a natural part of the development of new technology.
The collaboration called Technology Leaving No One Behind has resulted in approximately 2,500 engineering students now being taught universal design tools annually. Meanwhile, 56 startups have participated in inclusion workshops. Finally, for two years in a row, DTU has co-hosted a boot camp for young entrepreneurs with disabilities, where students and entrepreneurs develop new solutions to problems entrepreneurs encounter in their daily lives. Several have now started their own businesses.
So we are well on the way to implementing an inclusive view of humanity in innovation - but only in a small way.
The goal is to create change throughout the industrial value chain, and if this is to succeed, more companies need to join. Companies that have the courage to collaborate where innovation, value creation and inclusion are keywords. Companies that have heart and brain in the right place.
Together, we can ensure that sustainable development spreads and ultimately has a positive impact on how we build a more diverse future.
