Last night we were delighted to announce the winners of the inaugural Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards at a ceremony attended by the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes and Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao.

And the winning smartphone apps whose developers will share the €200,000 prize fund are:

Help Talk (Wellbeing category)

Help Talk is designed for people who are unable to communicate by speech, whether permanently or temporarily, such as those recovering from strokes. The application presents a set of commands represented by icons which when tapped ‘speak’ the basic need or desire - such as ‘I’m thirsty’ or ‘I feel pain’ - and goes on to allow the user to provide further detail in the same way. 

Wheelmap (Mobility category)

Wheelmap helps people with impaired mobility who may literally face obstacles as they go about their everyday life. Crowdsourcing lets users of the application rate and review the accessibility for wheelchair users of public places including cafes, museums, hotels and shops.  In one month 1200 users registered for the app, and 180,000 places were reviewed.

Zoom Plus Video Magnifier (Independent living category)

Zoom Plus Video Magnifier app allows people with visual impairments such as cataracts and long sightedness, as well as some forms of dyslexia, to easily read text by applying a magnifier, and adjusting the colours of the font and background.

BIG Launcher (Social participation category)

BIG Launcher is an alternative customisable Android homescreen, for elderly or visually impaired users who often struggle to use the small keyboards on most devices. It uses big buttons and large fonts to represent all the basic functions of the phone – telephone, SMS messages, camera, gallery, SOS button and installed apps.

Read more about the winners announcement here.  

Thank you again to all the entrants in this year’s competition. And watch out for news of next years Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards!

The Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards is a new contest to promote the development of IT applications designed to improve the lives of those with disabilities and people that are older, to help them get more actively involved in society. 

The programme is supported and co-organized by AGE Platform Europe, the European network of around 160 organisations of and for people aged 50+, and the European Disability Forum (EDF), the NGO that represents the interests of 80 million Europeans with disabilities.

Launched in Brussels, the competition will award the best smartphone application in four areas:

• Social participation: refers to applications which help users to become more involved in today's society and help them benefit from using new technologies, whatever their age and/or capacity.   The aim is to help everyone to access the web and social media through smartphones.
• Independent living: refers to applications which help users with everyday tasks such as washing or opening a door easily and safely so that they can live more independently
• Mobility: refers to applications which enable users to travel freely and safely whatever kind of transport system they would like to use. It also refers to the use of GPS and locations apps which can help guide people in unfamiliar places.
• Wellbeing: refers to applications which improve the users' health and overall feeling of wellbeing.

Entrants can compete for a share of the €200k prize fund from 14 June 2011 to 15 October 2011.

So how can we make sure that everybody can use smartphone technology? Can you develop an App to make life easier for  ageing users or users with disabilities?

Here are six testimonials which we hope will inspire you to create new ways of making technology accessible for all.

Find out more about understanding older people, and persons with disabilities in the Information Society. Also take a look at the information we have regarding designing for Accessibility. And please contact us (smartaccess@vodafone.com) if you would like to ask a user with disabilities their opinion regarding functionality or design of your application.

All qualifying entries will be evaluated in November by a jury, consisting of representatives from AGE Platform Europe, European Disability Forum and Vodafone Foundation. Twelve finalists will be selected and requested to present their application before the final jury in Brussels in early December at a live final, where the four overall winners will be chosen.

Vodafone Group Foundation Director, Andrew Dunnett said “The Vodafone Foundation is keen to help as many people as possible benefit from new technologies. The Smart Accessibility Awards will help developers create apps that can really make a difference to people’s lives – we are thrilled to be able to support such an important initiative.”    

 Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE Platform Europe Secretary General, said “We are pleased to be involved in a project that supports our efforts towards building a more inclusive society.  Digital inclusion is key to ensuring as many people as possible remain actively involved in their communities and we should make sure every citizen is empowered to do so, whatever their age or capacities. We hope this competition will help reach that goal and also contribute to the ‘European Year 2012 for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations’ where the objective is to increase older people’s active participation in society and promote independent living in old age. ”

Rodolfo Cattani, EDF Executive Member, said “Being part of this competition is very important for us. Communication technologies are vital to making the inclusion of people with disabilities possible. When mobile apps are not accessible, it can create new obstacles and can lead to new forms of discrimination. We look forward to going through the entries.”