Report
Teaser, summary, work performed and final results
Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Visualfy (Visual Notify - Improving Deaf People\'s Life)
Teaser
Deaf people encounter several major barriers that prevent them from seamlessly integrating in society and exclude them from many ICT services that a hearing person simply takes for granted. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), partial hearing loss affects about...
Summary
Deaf people encounter several major barriers that prevent them from seamlessly integrating in society and exclude them from many ICT services that a hearing person simply takes for granted. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), partial hearing loss affects about 360 million people worldwide, and more than 1 billion people will be at risk to experience hearing loss in the next years. This in mind, the trans-disciplinary project team of Visualfy set out to tire down these barriers in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020.
With the help of SME Instrument Phase 1 funding, Fusió d’Arts Technology has developed a suite of Smartphone Apps, through which people with hearing deficiencies interact more seamlessly with their environment. The apps are marketed as different releases under the brand Visualfy, the name being derived from the combination of the words visual and notify.
You can download your version of Visualfy from http://www.visualfy.es/en/download. Visualfy Lite is available free of charge financed via add placement while Visualfy Premium, available for 1 Euro, is free of advertisement. There are also differences in the sleep mode. On the Lite version, you have to set the sleep mode manually, while this happens automatically on the Premium version.
Visualfy – Good things are coming!
Work performed
During the five months SME Instrument Phase 1 project period, technical and commercial feasibility has been validated. One essential key to success is to identify and solve monetizable customer problems. Hence, following customer centred methodologies we:
a.) analysed the manifold problems faced by the Deaf community,
b.) developed and installed a prototype solution in customers premises and provided continuous service,
c.) confirmed our customers’ willingness to pay for our solution/service,
d.) formed an eco-system of stakeholders to assured that our production, fulfillment and maintenance costs stay below the price confirmed to be fair by our customers.
Final results
On the basis of our technical and financial feasibility study performed we are now ready to go to market. Having proven that we are able to deliver on sweeping innovative solutions for a more inclusive and barrier free world, with the potential to fuel high growth, and to create skilled jobs, we are currently preparing an SME Phase 2 proposal backed by private co-investment.
Especially looking at the socio-economic impact, Fusió d’Arts has a strong relationship to the Deaf community, with deaf people forming part of the team, and the intent that everybody joining Fusió d’Arts has a basic understanding of the sign language. Moreover, to strengthen links with this closed community, Fusió d’Arts has signed collaboration agreements with the Federation of Deaf of the Valencian Community (http://www.fesord.org/) and the National Confederation of Deaf in Spain (http://www.cnse.es/), donating 0.7% of profits to educational programs with the objective to allow deaf to participate in society, access the labour market, and enable them to reach their full potential. A similar agreement to be signed with the Europe Deaf Federation is currently in preparation.
Website & more info
More info: http://www.fusiodarts.com.