The Vodafone Foundation is calling on developers across Europe to design smartphone applications and services which consider the needs older people and people with disabilities. As a part of this call the NCBI Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT) will co-host a halfday workshop, which will take place on Tuesday 21st of August, and is followed by an Inventorium event that will end late in the afternoon of Wednesday the 22nd. The Inventorium event is hosted by the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC). The NDRC Inventorium is a programme designed to help turn innovative digital ideas into sustainable businesses.

Both events are designed to promote awareness about inclusive design and encourage developers to think creatively about the needs of people with disabilities, in this case withinin the context of using smartphones and mobile applications. The workshop and following Inventorium event will be highly innovative with the focus on cuttting edge accessible mobile application development. This is a great opportunity for current and aspiring developers to get together to understand how to create applications which address the needs of people with disabilities, including those who are blind or vision impaired. Best of all the workshop aims to inspire developers to produce an entry to the Vodafone Smart Accessibility Awards in December, which has a €200,000 prize fund for the best four apps.

During the Inventorium event developers will also get the chance to work together and create new partnerships to take the development of accessible mobiles apps further into possible start up companies and beyond.

According to CFIT's Joshue O Connor, another aim of the event is to illustrate the commercial opportunities in developing accessible applications. “As well as finding an entry for the Vodafone Smart Accessibility Awards, we hope that the workshop and Inventorium will plant seeds in the minds of developers and entrepreneurs about the value of inclusive design and act as a springboard to marketable accessible products. So we can demonstrate in a practical way that inclusive design can also be good for business.”

Visit www.cfit.ie for more information on the workshop and Inventorium. 

If you would like to attend the workshop and Inventorium, please register here http://smartaccessiblemobile.eventbrite.com/