The first ICT 4 Inclusion Challenge has come to an end. After an initial round in which 10 teams were selected by 24 judges to attend a 2-week virtual Bootcamp. The 9-experts-strong final jury panel made up of Atos executives, as well as experts from GIZ, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations chose three finalists. The teams were awarded at the Innovation in Disability Inclusion event on the 3rd of December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Each participant from each of the three winning teams was awarded a dedicated 3-month mentorship program at Atos starting in January 2022, monetary prizes, as well as an opportunity to pitch to be a part of Atos Scaler, the Atos Group’s accelerator program.
The winners are:
1st prize and Competition Winner: ‘Vinsighte’, Nigeria
Vinsighte is a reading software/application that makes use of Artificial Intelligence to aid the visually impaired to read conveniently. It works by scanning through texts on books and reading the books aloud to the visually impaired user. The team won €6,500.
2nd prize: ‘Virtual E&T’, South Africa
This customized app provides an accessible and affordable Virtual Education and Training Portal for people with intellectual disabilities. The team won €2,500.
3rd prize: ‘Talking Charts’, Kenya
This solution addresses the accessibility challenges of data visualization for people with visual impairment, including blindness, through synthetic speech and auto-captioning. The team won €1,000.
Commenting on these results
Commenting on these results, Udo Littke, Head of Atos in Central Europe, and Jürgen Zattler, Director General in the Germany Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development said the following at the Award Ceremony:
“Congratulations to our winners and to all of our contestants! I’m blown-away by the creativity and quality of the entries. Access to education is one of the greatest barriers to inclusion for children, young persons and adults with disabilities in Africa and digital innovations can help to overcome this challenge by removing barriers to education for persons with disabilities. We’re very proud to encourage the new generation to help shape inclusive education in Africa”.
Udo Littke, Atos
“The award ceremony marks the end of this years’ ICT 4 Inclusion challenge but we hope it will be the starting point for new and innovative solutions to shape inclusion of persons with disabilities but also without disabilities in Africa and around the world. I would like to thank all teams of the ICT 4 Inclusion challenge for their participation and contribution to a more accessible digital world”
Jürgen Zattler, BMZ
