 Inaccessible formats will increase the digital gap instead of reducing it. So for all this reason, digital accessibility has become more than ever before an essential tool to ensure the inclusion of all people by enabling equal and equitable access to public vital digital information, products and services for all persons without any discrimination. Thank you, Roxana and I would just perhaps add in one sentence that then share the experience from the question seven. For instance, in our reports from the from the last year 2020, which is as we all know being a very challenging year in the contributions submitted by members. First of all, I mean, there was a very considerable number of contributions around 65, which is very impressive. But the members shared the the the available ICTs accessible ICTs in their countries but as a main obstacle that they point out is actually the lack of policies. Okay, although a lot of good practices were shared on implementing some, how to say emergency measures because there is that there was this readiness. But what was the positive side of the whole process is that inevitable in a in a crisis such was caused by the COVID-19. Actually, what we've seen and I can speak on behalf of the developing countries and the region that I come from is the increased level of awareness, even when it comes to policymakers, which is a good thing. And now we see more readiness of the government and this morning it was so encouraging and I've really loved every word that the Prime Minister of Serbia said because it's so affirmative and and you see when you have one country in the region leading the process then we all join in. But then we will we will go back to that but that yes there are challenges that there is a slow process of the implementation but there are also some positive examples. Mr Insulara, speaking of of barriers, speaking of challenges, we've, we are witnessing that globally, regardless of the pandemic of the health crisis and especially during the health crisis, persons with disabilities face enormous challenges and they range from lack of connectivity, lack of availability or affordability of accessible ICT. So what are the barriers persons with disabilities face during the pandemic in relation to accessing digital services and products. Great. First of all, I just want to thank you very much for inviting me to be a part of this very interesting panel. The topic of ICT technology is of course very topical and accessibility is a big part of that. This is not a new problem. COVID is a new problem. And I think a lot of disabled people didn't really have the right information when the lockdowns began. Right. So there was a lot of emergency information that was crucial to communities and disabled people were left out of that. Right. So we didn't have interpreting services we didn't have captioning. So that was very unfortunate to start off on that foot. A lot of the notifications that came through mobile services, a lot of the track and trace apps are not accessible to people with disabilities. Obviously schools were closed down and everything became, you know, learning from home. Most of our disabled communities are disabled students weren't able to participate in the same way as our able-bodied counterparts. So, and also, you know, those of us who almost all of us who have been forced to telework from home, there were not the kind of reasonable adjustments available in each of our own homes to be able to do that. And so there was just such a lack of services and there still is a lack of relay services, a lack of captioning services, either no VRI video relay services or very little availability, lack of national emergency number services. And this is not a new problem. I can go on at length. In terms of communication services, I think we need to give absolute priority to this because this contributes to the isolation and deteriorated mental health of disabled communities. And as long as we're not paying attention to that, we are contributing to making, we are contributing to that downfall. And I will, in my next intervention, probably give a little bit more detail and some personal stories about how that has impacted disabled peoples throughout the past year. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, Umberto. You actually said exactly, you expressed the concerns of persons with disabilities, regardless. I think they live in a developed order developing countries. Because in developing countries, it's the situation is even more severe. The barriers are even more obvious. But I think obviously because I quite like to look at the positive on the positive side of the of the every challenge, I think that the good thing is that there are good. There are bright examples. There are bright good practices that we basically can adopt and we can implement and we can replicate etc. But definitely I mean you raised some excellent, excellent points and Marina now back to you. We've seen, we've said already that the lack of the lack of policies, the lack of strategies is the work plans is actually that the big obstacle in implementing accessible ICTs. So what could you, what could you tell us when it comes to the, how, when it comes to promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, how to access, how to ensure the access of digital products and services is being contemplated in in new institutions, as well as the strategy and work programs. First of all, let me congratulate the organization of this event and important sharing and the reflection on accessibility moment. And to greet my colleagues of this panel and all the participants and entities here today. The mission for rehabilitation is public instituted depending on the Secretary of State for inclusion of people with disability. And with the mission of ensuring the planning execution and coordination of the national policies to promote the rights of the persons with disabilities. With the scope of our mission the Institute aims to promote and guarantee the accessibility of communication in the service that serve the public, but also in those that imply the direct contact and social interaction with people such as schools training centers, high education institutions, hospitals, health centers, clinical supermarkets and other essential service, whether governmental or private. Also we provide information and training to non-governmental organizations of people with disabilities on their rights and benefits through a national network that is the inclusion desks with a helpline by phone, email, communication platform and video call to clarify any doubts and identify their needs. Also in our website we provide information on the principles of digital accessibility with the best practices of usual ability and accessibility in websites and mobile applications. Identifying ways, resources and partners to eliminate barriers that prevent the people with disabilities that are users of assistive technologies, thus contributing more to an accessible public administration. And in this context I would like to highlight the efforts that many public administration entities are making to become their websites accessible, being the administrative modernization agency, the entity that has this competence. We won last year the gold seal of usability and accessibility in our website and we ensure the maintenance of this level of compliance in order to inspire other public administration entities to simplify and make more efficient use of online public services. Also we promote specialized training on communication accessibility to all workers of the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, as also the public administration. What we've been done is since last year participate in webinars informing and raising awareness of the importance and value of communication accessibility to digital content, so that we increase the diversity and more inclusive society. Just to say that we've been working in the design of the national strategy for the inclusion of people with disabilities to be implemented 2021-2025, that is currently in the legislative process. We'll contribute to its monitoring and evaluation, outline the measures to promote the digital accessibility of information and communication for all people as factors for sustainable development and the promotion of recall opportunities. Just finally to say that in the short time we participate and provide technical support to interminational working group that has already been created for the transposition of the directive on accessibility to products and services in a transversal way. And that's a little bit short what we've done. You said a lot and it's amazing congratulations on your achievements. It's quite remarkable and I know that both Roxana and I are very pleased to hear every time we hear that there are some outstanding achievements for web accessibility. For ensuring web accessibility we always applaud that and maybe Roxana will later on could share some resources when we talk about ITU resources because they also have some brilliant and so useful resources for the members. But now I would like to go back to Mrs Akiko Ito and I would like to perhaps ask for a little bit more information because you did mention and we are fully aware that the convention is one of the pillars of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. And we know that one of the key message that really comes out of that is that nobody should be left behind. So what are the ongoing efforts by the UN Secretariat for the CRPD including key accessibility actions to make the UN more inclusive and accessible in the wake of COVID responses and recovery? Thank you. Thank you for this very important question. Let me just at the outset let me just mention that at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis there were a number of urgent action that was which were taken by many of our offices starting with the Secretary General. Actually made on a number of occasions of course his commitment to leaving no one behind of course including persons with diabetes in COVID-19 crisis response and also now recovery and feeling back better. In our department we also addressed again the situation of persons with diabetes through developing a number of policy briefs. So at the beginning of the COVID-19 we addressed again our messaging initially and then tried to really again all our agencies we tried to really to gather the information data and also analysis in terms of the situation of persons with diabetes at that time because we lacked the information. To the extent that we actually were trying to really to use the information data and statistics that we had before and then just basically assess that in the context of the ongoing crisis as much as possible to make use of what we had already had. So that was the very first thing that we we engaged in the UN system. And following that phase we have also addressed it through a number of initiatives through for example United Nations partnership on the rights of persons with diabetes. Started received again a project fund for the UN system to address the COVID-19 situations and situation and persons with disabilities. So that addressing the addressing the situation of persons with disabilities through this fund this implementation of the United Nations partnership on the rights of persons with disabilities a fund that specifically targeting that situation. And we also addressed it through, for example, like for through the conference of through the organization of the 13 session of the conference of states parties. As you know that 30 session conference of states parties took place in a hybrid format. So which means that we had an in person meeting at the general assembly for the election of the therapeutic committee. And then we had the rest of the conference conference, which were which which was a which took place in a virtual format. So, so in the end of this in this context, we we were we actually had to address you know just like missed what Mr. Insuleta was addressing this is the first time we did not know how we can address we can how we can secure. The participation of persons with disabilities, which is is actually a main global conference of the United Nations system in disability. And what we did was was really bringing all our colleagues from the UN secretariat offices, as well as other colleagues from the UN system to to together to work on a combination of some technological. Again, services, we had a combination of events and interpret fee, and all of those with X and use of the interpret fee. And now the services were tested with a stakeholder groups of persons with disabilities to make sure that the platform used for the conference was accessible. We were also addressing in in the context of the UN's work that that we will be using a new. E conference system which was not available unfortunately, so we explore like a static, you know, we were recommended that we use more like static website to, to, you know, to, for example, to ensure the traffic event majority of participants. But the website was not ready by the conference date so so we had to to address this this kind of a pending review of architecture technical clearance for that the different functions the chat functions and many other functions that we needed for for the conference. And we use the good practice of the third committee of the general assembly, which was a Google form form, and we took, we use that to take live interventions from the floor like all of us. Kind of a mixture, like a brilliant different available. Again, platforms and services together for us to be able to to come up with a more or less acceptable platform for for participation of persons with disabilities, and of course, other, those without or with disabilities in the conference of states bodies. So, but as technology software is constantly changing, you know, we of course we, we are now in the process of preparing for the conference of states bodies for the 14 session. So, so this is an ongoing again efforts of the United Nations to, to, to actually to explore what is possible at this point for the preparation of a conference of state bodies for the next session. And we also need to ensure that it's not we tend to focus perhaps we tend to worry too so much on what's available what we should do in terms of a services to to make sure that we can ensure this door accessibility to be to be in place, but we also And we also realize that through in our inexperience that familiarization of of such technologies with people like with those stakeholders with you and Secretary, you know, starting with us, I studied with also myself I also learned a lot from this process, and I keep learning. But we also need to ensure that those who participate in the conference understand the context in which those technologies are used, and we need to also help them to familiarize to get familiarized with those technologies. Yes. Yes. So, so, so, so I'm just so I'm sharing with you some of the examples of, you know, kind of our struggle during the past month, but then we, we were actually we, you know, able to do to reach the level which is more or less acceptable, which was also endorsed by by the disability community. Of course, nothing was perfect, but, but I really feel like it was so important for us to, to, to develop like sort of a community that focuses on accessibility. Absolutely. This, this was most useful. And as you said, this is that we are all learning in this process. And you're really doing some amazing things that are going to help us fall because we are all trying to come up, come up with models and mechanisms on on how to really increase the ICT accessibility and increase the, the level of digital inclusion. And yes, that that is most useful. But we talked a lot about challenges. Rukasana, I would like to go back to you now and ask how it you responded to the challenges. And if it would be great if you could indicate some points out some concrete examples and let us know who benefited and who can benefit from it you related actions and I know that you have plenty of examples but you know just choose one or two. Sure, sure. Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. Well, in fact, I think it's not only it, I think we were all called to take appropriate measure to respond to could be 19 and start a recovery process. But for it, you in particular, we try to turn this challenge into an opportunity. Because the global crisis of COVID-19 exacerbated the already existing social economic inequalities and demonstrating an ever increasing need to strengthen collective efforts to build an inclusive digital world for all. For us, one way to tackle this challenge immediately was by raising awareness with our member states. So, as you know, you are our reporter in this study group that we mentioned. We work closely with all member states, sector members, academic members, DPOs and everyone involved in the topic of digital accessibility that want to work with IT and this. And we jointly highlighted the need to ensure the availability, affordability and accessibility of ICT products and services that our members are delivering in the circumstances to enable everyone including person with disabilities to benefit from all this information and communication. So, I will also said that immediately in already March 2020. We develop a set of guidelines containing key messages and action for decision makers and communicator providers on how to ensure that digital information services and products are accessible by all people including person with disabilities during COVID. And we to ensure the proper dissemination of this resource we make it available in six languages and then within the UN work on COVID response and recovery and thanks to our UN colleagues and WHO it was decided that this IT guidelines must be translated and were translated in other 22 languages. So, I will send you in the chat also the link and I also invite you if possible to share in your country and translated in your own languages. They are really very short but very valuable and comprehensive guidelines. I also said that in response to this extraordinary circumstances and I've ever lived before and by none of us, I to make significant efforts to to support the global need to understand and consider the ICT accessibility component within the digital ecosystem and environment. So, you are asking to to to mention some of the resources so I will in particular want to mention the key training resources on digital accessibility, which are in general in multiple languages and inaccessible formats by the way so can be accessed by everyone. And we do have one in ICT accessibility the key to inclusive communication another one in web accessibility the corners are often inclusive digital society. And of course we adapt to the circumstances of COVID and we also developed one on how to ensure inclusive digital communication during crisis and emergency situation. And again are reiterated that this will be also presented on Thursday and I invite everyone participating in this session to consider also joining us in this session on Thursday. And most importantly is what you say, of course the worstness raising is important training is important but implementation is the goal. So, aiming to boost this global implementation and digital accessibility, we also developed and just launched it actually yesterday at the last meeting of this study group before the WTDC will telecommunication development conference that it will be held at the end of of the year. And so we launched an IT toolkit on self assessment for ICT accessibility implementation. And Roxana sorry to interrupt but it would be really useful also to share that the share the key resources in our chat box for sure. I will immediately at the end. Sorry, sorry, if I could, sorry, I'm also watching the time so I really and then we have one question and I would like to turn now to Mr. Insulae and ask them and we talked a lot about, you know, challenges, etc. So it's always easy to talk about problems. Okay, but actually how to turn these challenges into opportunities. Okay, and in particular how to ensure disability inclusive workplace. So employment in the post COVID word if you could just share your views on on this one. Of course, this is such an interesting topic and such an interesting contributions which have been made already. So what we do have in our favor is that Europe has different standards right we have the standard on accessibility of ITC services and products. En 301549, which has been harmonized for the web directive. We also have the European standard on design for all, which can enable organizations to design develop and provide products goods and services which are accessible and to a wide variety of users, including people with disabilities. So the goal is to transpose these guidelines and directives. So we have the the standard on accessibility of ICT. And we have, and like I said, it's this is EN 54301549. We also have the European standard on design for all. EN 17161. And this does give people with disabilities more more access to products from the beginning of when they are developed. We can also learn from organizations of people with disabilities or other organizations or companies which have best practices, where they ensure accessible and inclusive working environments for their employees. So here at the European Disability Forum, we have access to different events, meetings, accessible documents and flexibility in terms of our working environments. So all of these best practice examples will help countries comply with the Employment Equality Directive, which prohibits discrimination on various grounds, including disability in employment and vocational training. Now, last, the EU and its institutions should be setting an example themselves by ensuring they are accessible and inclusive as employers and as public bodies. By doing this, the EU will meet its obligations under the UN CRPD and set examples for member states to do the same. Thank you. Excellent closing remark that you said we all have to really, you know, how to say, really show in practice on what we preach. And are we, it's good that such events are also platform to talk about it. But and because we all have to revisit our values and what we are missions and visions, etc. and really move forward. But we also need to move forward because we have another, I think, 10 minutes before we end and I would like to turn to Marina now. Marina, from the point of view of the Institute and again speaking of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities. So how the institute, what is the institute's response to these challenges? Okay, in fact, the pandemic constraints have been more significant in the lives of the people with disabilities in terms of accessibility to information and communication. In order to contribute to reducing the constraints, namely the continuity, access to their usual routines, information about public health, access to press conferences and live communications on social networks, health care, and all others considered to be essential services. The institute has been developing specialized responses. I would like to fight like some one of them was to the lake of information caused by COVID-19 on deaf people for whom the oral communication Portuguese language is not easy learned. And since their natural languages, Portuguese sign language, and we propose a far reaching measure to mobilize all citizens, deaf citizens to be health agents in equal circumstances. What we did is, in all official communications of the Portuguese government and the daily briefing of the Ministry of Health, in all spaces and places of the country, all initiatives and launches of instruments for prevention and mitigation of COVID-19. Since March 12, 2020, it was ensured interpretation of information transmitted into Portuguese sign language by two interpreters from our institute. And in their absence is provided the replacement by others of the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and Social Security. This measure caused a reaction of inclusion of Portuguese sign language in public initiatives and launches of instruments for prevention and mitigation of COVID-19. We did a test, a stay away COVID-19 mobile application, training a discussion webinars on new work methodologies, guides and manuals on COVID-19 prevention, all available on the government website and public organization with Portuguese sign language incorporated and subtitling with the videos. Also, we did some accessible videos about digital accessibility rules, which includes the Portuguese sign language also unsubtitling, such as a practical guide for the rights of people with disabilities in Portugal. And the production of the COVID-19 handbook for people with disabilities was another result of a research and the coordination with our institute and developed also by rehabilitation specialists and professionals. It was a manual for health and daily activities, general measures for the prevention and control of COVID-19. This manual was done in accessible format, e-book format and also in Portuguese sign language. Also, we gave support with explanatory videos for the service of sending written messages in the context of domestic violence. It was another and a challenge also was launched with the Ministry of Health and the General Dictatorate of Health of a transparent mask. And the model was created and sent to all inclusion desks, which are desks that exists in the municipal councils and the district centers of the social security. And to support the access to health aggravated by the pandemic and to provide answer also to deaf people. And the beginning of this project was financed by us and the Portuguese sign language interpreters for the National Health Service Contact Center that we call the SCNS-24, which is a triage consoling and deferral service that is responsible for assessing and guiding citizens before an un-emergent health problem. And since April 2020, the contact center has a service for deaf people through video call. The phone line as it is moment six Portuguese sign language interpreters will provide the assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These services service after contacting the deaf citizens, the interpreter will then mediate with the nurse through a voice response platform. Now these services extended to a contact between professionals and hospital admission and interaction with the health center. The last example I would like to give you just a collaborative way, a collaborative work that it's been working at this moment since March 2020 in the local public administration organisms. With a view to mainstream the commitment to the inclusion of people with disabilities and with our participation in some editions that it's called a collaborative work plan in public administration. And it's, and we aim that all information support are accessible to all users. That's it. A little short. That's that's short. That's that's really impressive. I mean, in short, a role you could say is that yes, I mean, you are all the way extremely extremely well in that area. And as a reporter of question seven, I would really like to encourage Portugal to to join in in in the in the next study period and in our work. So please do. It's just so such amazing good practices are extremely useful for other members but now I would like to read there is a question from our participant Pedro Alves. He is asking how can we minimize the participation and involvement of people with disabilities within the process of designing digital public services maximize sorry minimize we want to maximize everything. I can I can answer. Okay, I can answer because Peter was one of the persons from the our informatic Institute from the Ministry of Labor that work also with us for the gold seal for accessibility and usability of a website. And we have the one seal, because we work with the people with disability for our website with the tests, and so on. So it was very important to work with them. We need to do it with them with these people and Nothing about us without us. Exactly. Exactly. So it's to work also with them. Okay, that's the that's just but please do we want to see Portugal more actively involved in in in question seven. And now allow me just to be now I have to wrap up. It's really every time we start talking about this this topic of topic of five cities disability and in particular now in the during the health crisis. It's simply one hour is not enough and with such a distinguished speakers of course I mean now we can carry on for at least a couple of a couple of hours but I would like to ask each of you and please just respond as just from the top of your head so If you would be required to virtually build a digitally inclusive world, which would be your main pillars. So and I will start with Mrs Akiko Ito, which would be your, your, your main pillars in this scenario. And just shortly because we have one minute stop maximum each. Yes, I'm sorry, like a pillar among. Sorry, like you, you asking me which if you would hypothetically speaking hypothetically but from your rich experience. So if you would be required to virtually build a digitally inclusive world, which would be your main pillars. Well, I guess the CRPD to start with. Yes, definitely. I think, you know, our pillar will be an international normative framework which consists of CRPD and other international human rights framework as well as development agenda that we we actually be operating. And I think this should be a more coordinated approach to implement, you know, those guidelines that's been mentioned by, by our colleagues at the panel relating to accessibility as an integral part of, of everything we do the content creation process and not just supplementary But it should be, I think an integral part and key to respond to COVID-19 recovery processes and future crisis. I think this should be really coined in, you know, in, in all our work. But then I think our focus would be really to build this and strengthen this framework and support our colleagues to be able to link what they do with the core goal of of the international community. That's perfect. So Roxana, over to you. I should be on a digital inclusive world. I think my pillars will be, would be very simple. Once I will put the broadband access availability, I will add to the affordability and the accessibility one. And I think on top, I will consider policy and regulatory measures, building accessible ICT only and technology and of course appropriation and digital skills for all. Sorry, did you say simple? That's, that's perfect. We are, we are talking about this sort of like I, I deal, you know, scenarios. Mr. Insulara, so what would, what, what would you do in this case? Well, for me, a perfect world would be coordinated. All of the different organizations who are trying to make an effort and trying to make these changes, not having to reinvent the wheel. Right. So it's nothing without us about us, as simply said is that. And if we're coordinated, we'll do our best and we'll do it faster. Thank you. Exactly. And Marina, over to you. Just to say that it's essential that we ensure with critical access to digitally access goods and services so that we can promote a peaceful and prosperous society and sustain the development and so that no one is left behind. So that's That's just that that should be perfect. But I think that we really, we are not daydreaming here. I think we, we have all necessary. Well, we have a good world to start with, but we also have all the necessary tools and resources and and knowledge, etc. So, and I think that that that's a that's a good start. Now, I really have to wrap up and I would like to conclude this panel. In my conclusion remarks, I will not be very long, but I will just touch upon some main points that I think were raised here. We can conclude then that ICT accessibility should be mainstreamed through the policies regulations and communication strategy implementations, including education employment help for the socio economic development of all people including persons with disabilities and by the way that's what study group one question seven does so do join us. The second one would be that implementation of ICT accessibility policies and strategies should be considered among top priorities and part of the global policymakers agenda. We can already see that. Yes, it is the on the on the top of global policies, policymakers agenda but the implementation could always be enhanced. And finally, to achieve this goal multi stakeholders engagement in ensuring that information products and services are accessible to all people regardless of their gender age ability location of financial means is critical. Okay, so I would like you to take with you all the positive positive energy and positive messages and try to focus on the implementation and this is addressed to our participants. And now, at the very end, we have a special video message. But before I introduce that I would like to thank to the interpreters to sign language interpreters to the captioners. I would like to thank to participate and in particular I would like to thank the speakers of this panel you are you are absolutely wonderful I enjoyed every minute of it, and look forward to seeing you in on on some on a different occasion. And for the very end, I should introduce the special video message, which is from Mrs Maria de Fatima phone sec, secretary of state of the innovation and administrative modernization of Portugal. So, I think now the floor is yours. Thank you very much for participating and we also thank you to you for moderating this wonderful panel. Thank you. Thank you. It was my pleasure. I enjoyed it. Developing fairer societies, more sustainable economies and stronger democracies depends on our ability to generate coordinated responses, focusing on the values that unite us. And because in the world we want to live in, we all matter. It is crucial to work on integration and inclusion as core values, and to assume them as a collective and permanent responsibility. Frame by this vision, we believe that in societies that are increasingly transformed by digital technology, it is necessary to use technology as a bridge and not as a barrier. The digital world must be developed for and with everyone with accessible and easy to use services and taking advantage of tools that contribute to an autonomous and independent life for people with physical or cognitive limitations. And this topic is extremely relevant today. The COVID-19 disease has generated a crisis on a global scale that has exposed and enhanced economic and social inequalities affecting in particular the most vulnerable groups of our populations. The government has therefore to work harder to ensure that digital acceleration boosted by the pandemic does not foster the development of new barriers. The accessibility of websites and mobile applications must be reinforced, deepening a path that began quite some time ago. If we recall that in 1999, Portugal was the first member state of the European Union to adopt accessibility requirements for the contents and services provided by public administration on the Internet. Therefore, in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, we promoted updates to the ePortugal website, the Portugal's single digital gateway, which currently provides information on service points as well as more than 2,500 online services for citizens and businesses. We want to have an ePortugal even more accessible, so we keep working towards the provision of chat and video call service channels to support its use. We believe that public administration services should lead by example, which is why we have also launched the new accessibility portal with information and tools to support the implementation of good practices that ensure a better digital experience for all citizens. At the same time, we have launched a training program on digital accessibility and usability, which has already trained more than 300 civil servants as well as a new version of the Portuguese web accessibility observatory that monitors compliance with the applicable rules. We are therefore committed to ensure that increasingly public services are born digital, simple and secure and also accessible to all people with navigation and access to all functionalities independently of the user's profile and the device that ensures compatibility with the technologies used by citizens with special needs. This commitment unites all governmental areas and it is present in the strategic documents that support the government's action. The strategy for innovation and modernization of the state and public administration, for example, assumes that in 2023 90% of the websites will have a usability and accessibility seal, a recognition of the public sector effort that can be distinguished with three levels of maturity. One is the bronze, silver and gold, a demanding commitment with an ambitious work plan and engaged players to make Portugal even more inclusive in a more cohesive and digital Europe. Much to Her Excellency Maria de Fatima Von Stecca for her intervention and now it's my great pleasure to introduce the intervention of His Excellency, Her Excellency Anna Mendez-Golin, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security of Portugal and I would like to request for the material. Information and communication technologies are vitally important in promoting people's participation and affirmation and in promoting accessibility policies. The information society must contribute to improve the quality of life and well-being of all citizens, constituting an essential step for participation in active life. To do this, we must ensure that access and use of technologies is carried out on equal footing for all. We must ensure that it is done without discrimination or exclusion, that it is a joint and shared effort among all European institutions, member states, civil society, industry and mainly persons with disabilities. We must guarantee the sharing of information, experiences and knowledge for the European Union to become a really inclusive society. In the last two decades, Portugal traced a pathway in the development of a digital accessibility as an essential tool for the integration of people with disabilities in different domains. We want to continue this path of progress and development, ensuring the construction of a more equal society, promoting diversity and non-discrimination as factors of competitiveness, innovation and development. Thank you all and have a very, very good working day. Thank you very much to her excellency as well. And dear ladies and gentlemen, now it's the time to make a short break before we'll be resuming at 15. For the special award ceremony for regional competition on the innovative digital solutions for accessible Europe 2021. So I will issue a pleasant break and see you soon. Thank you. Hi, I have one question ready. Yes. Sorry to bother you. You know what I'm wondering about. Well, when I will be pitching my pitch. Should I tell you when to go to the next page or you are able to see what I'm talking about because there are comments below the pitch and maybe you will do it yourself. Or, or should I We'll be greatly helpful for our moderator. If you can just say next. Then we will immediately change the slide. Okay, great. And we can hear you clearly. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Also have a question if it's okay around the pitches. Will you be letting us know, you know, when we're up next, like when when we should be ready to be the next person pitching. Yes, no worries about that. I will, I will let you know when you're going to be talking next. Okay, okay, great. And, um, and is there any like Q&A after each pitch. There's no Q&A. It's just, uh, when once the winner is announced, we'll just invite them for maybe like 30 seconds to say something. Okay, that's basically it. Oh, okay. And the winners are announced at the end of the hour. Yes. Oh, wow. So it's fast. Okay. Wow. Thank you so much. No problem. My question for me as well. Yes. If we're asking so just for one minute. I am Travaxi and I'm supposed to pitch around the, around the forest. Is it possible to share my pitch? So I've updated the pitch and I would like to share my pitch and not the. Yes. So I got your email. If you want to share it, you can do that. It's, it's, it should be fine. Thank you. Working online job application and recruitment systems accessible for all over one billion people in the world live with a disability about 80% of them are of working age persons with disabilities may face inequalities to access and use ICTs at work. Therefore, guaranteeing that ICT tools meet the necessary requirements is critical for persons with disabilities to enter the labor market. But many online application recruitment systems are inaccessible for users with disabilities, preventing them to apply for jobs in conditions of equality. To support the development of inclusive digital societies, it you and ILO have developed a project that will provide guidance and strengthen the capacity of policymakers from governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders to ensure disability inclusion throughout the recruitment process. ITU is committed to support the creation of accessible online job application and recruitment systems for the benefit of all, including persons with disabilities, thus creating more inclusive societies by reducing inequalities and supporting their social economic development. With the ever growing share of digital solutions in the world of work, it is a priority to address digital barriers to getting into employment. Online recruitment systems are a key factor in this. Their accessibility is essential for promoting decent work for persons with disabilities. ITU and ILO provide a set of guidelines to ensure that recruitment systems are accessible, strengthening knowledge in digital accessibility requirements and international standards, and inspiring policymakers and stakeholders to lead by example on disability inclusion. Join us in this global commitment to ensure that employment opportunities are accessible to everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, and now it's our great pleasure to welcome you at the next session of the Accessible Europe. This is the award ceremony for regional competition on the innovative digital solutions for an Accessible Europe 2021. Before we are inviting our special guest of today, Mr. Jão Cadete Matos, Chairman of the Board of Anacom Portugal, who we are hardly thanking for support for supporting the innovation in the accessibility in Europe. And let me please draw your attention to the few facts of the regional initiative and the regional context on the innovation. Regional competition is about the fostering the ICT centric ecosystem next slide. I was born by the proposals of different stakeholders who suggested and that we need to build together the ecosystem of those who are making the change of the life of the different individuals thanks to the digital solutions. This is the reason why two years ago we have launched the competition which with time is growing and we hope that it will grow in the future as well. We would like to thank very much Anacom for supporting this process and for making sure that we can advance in the right direction. Here just in a second, a few words and strategic address from the chairman of the Anacom. But let's take a look at this how, what type of journey we went through in order to be today here next slide please. We started the competition preparations already in November and in order to in few months time to receive a lot of applications next slide. We have also called for volunteering and for making sure that the evaluation is done by those who are working with the persons with disabilities and who understands each of type of the disabilities. And please let me thank the all members of the evaluation committee for passionately working on evaluating over almost 100 applications submitted for this year context. Next slide. We have received 97 submissions this year coming from the 29 countries. We have selected 25 competitors who then have been vetted very deeply by all evaluators and then evaluated in order to finally identify 15 finalists which will be listening to today. Today is a special moment because we'll be also learning out of this 15 who will be the winner. This is not about winning losing, it's about advancing the accessibility. So already now let us congratulate to all 15 for their achievement of being today with us. Next slide please. I would like to invite now to take the floor. Mr. Jao Kedete Mantos who is the chairman of the board of the Anacom to deliver the strategic message. Mr. Mantos, the floor is yours. Hello. Good afternoon. Are you listening me well? We can hear you very well. Good morning or good afternoon or even good evening depending on where you are at this moment. As Anacom chairman, I am pleased to address a few words to the participants of the regional forum, which is joint organized by the ATU European Commission in Portugal. Anacom is probably supporting and sponsoring these events as a demonstration of its commitment towards accessibility and inclusiveness of ICPs. The ITU and the European Commission are two of the main partners of Anacom with which our service, our teams interact on a permanent, if not daily basis. As we are particularly satisfied for this joint initiative and we hope we could witness more joint initiatives of this sort as a vehicle to address both European and global challenges. Let me start to mention that the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union is prioritizing initiatives that help accelerate the digital transition as a driver of economic recovery and promote European leadership in digital innovation and in digital economy. In this context, we are paying attention to the universal development of digital skills so that workers can adapt to the new production process. Today we are all working on many of us that are working to the digital transformation of businesses to the areas of e-commerce to the promotion of health and disease prevention and to distance learning in education and lifelong learning. Digital inclusion is an absolute priority for us as a means to address current challenges. Therefore, it makes sense to organize this forum on accessible Europe as it is for all as part of the Portuguese presidency. The European Union has a long tradition of developing innovative legislative approach, setting best practices and examples that can inspire other regions of the world. The field of accessibility in particular is a good illustration of all European Union approach and examples can inspire other regions. As we have heard before, Europe has recently adopted innovative forward-looking legislation on accessibility that will benefit persons with disabilities and elderly people allowing for more accessible products and services in the market and more competitive prices. In addition, the European Union has adopted the new European Electronic Publications Code, which will soon be transposed to the Portuguese legislation along with the rest of Europe. This new code provides that obligations can be imposed on companies in the sector with the view to ensuring the accessibility of disabled and users to communication service in a number of areas such as access to emergency service, provision of information concerning electronic communications products and services to users with special needs, provision of service specifically designed for disabled and users. These are examples on how the European Union has been working to facilitate digital inclusion in particular to citizens with special needs. Let me take this opportunity to mention that ANACOM has been committed to promote accessibility and inclusiveness of publications in Portugal and let me share some of our initiatives. In one side, as a sector regulator, ANACOM is enforcing the relevant legislation, namely imposing obligations on other techniques. Secondly, ANACOM is actively promoting accessibility in its own function and interaction with stakeholders and citizens. For example, via introduction new functionalities on our website. If you allow me, I will further explain these two lines of action. A sector regulation ANACOM has implemented offers and features that these designated providers have an obligation to provide, including a set of requirements aimed at ensuring the accessibility of consumers with disabilities to the service that comprises the universal service. In note, in particular, a 2019 decision on the conditions and specifications governing the universal service components. First, connection to a public communications network at a fixed location and provision of a publicly available telephone service through the connection. And secondly, provision of public pay phones. Among the obligations that are imposed in this decision and the takings are requested to offer special rates to people with disabilities. In addition, providers are required to offer open requests and emergency services, including sound and refired plates to any terminal equipment for people with hearing loss. Visual call indicator, which consists of a device that activates the visual signal where a call is received and simple invoices in braille. Additionally, these are specific provisions to guarantee the accessibility of public pay phones to consumers with disabilities. It's also relevant to note that ANACOM is recommending electronic communication providers to accommodate the word website and its consortium norms when designing their websites. The second line of action relates to the efforts that ANACOM is undertaking to guarantee the accessibility of its website and its consumer portal, adding functionalities that make them more user friendly and accessible to every citizen. Among those, I note the audio function that provides the reading and the published texts and the introduction of interactive functions. I am proud to share with you that our website has been submitted to a number of accessibility tests and the assessment has been extremely positive. The design, development and maintenance of our websites are contributing for those positive and encouraging results. Let me finish by congratulating all the finalists in the regional competition on innovative digital solutions from an accessible Europe 2021 that are about to do their pitching presentations and in particular the winners. ANACOM is very proud to support this competition and we look forward to contributing to the promotion and implementation of their solutions. Thank you very much for your attention and I wish you a continued successful session. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Chairman for these words and also your support, personal one, but also the institutional one. This is really important process for building the ICT centric innovation ecosystem for accessible Europe. So thank you very much. And now without further ado, let me hand over to our colleague Mashal Ahmad Khan to conduct the pitching session. Mashal, the floor is yours. Thank you very much for your love. Before I move on to the pitching session, I just want to make a quick announcement. So for all the panelists that need to see the sign language interpretation, please use the side by side gallery view in zoom. It will make it much easier for you to see the interpreters. All right. So now we will start the pitching session of the top 15 finalists for this year's regional competition. I would like to remind all finalists that the pitching session time is three minutes. There will be a timer that is that will be pinned on the screen in a minute, which you should keep an eye on to make sure that your presentation is within the time threshold. Without further ado, I would like to start off by inviting the three top finalists in category one of the competition, persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. So I would now give the floor to the CEO of SineLab. Thank you. I'm on. Yes. Yes. So I would like to use instead of saying next slide, I would like to use a sign from the region sign language. That's okay. So when I want to switch the slide, I will say next. Thank you. All right. Hi, everyone. I'm Andre from SineLab and at SineLab, we are working towards making sign language accessible for everyone. Next. And learning sign language is hard. In high-income countries, three out of four parents are unable to learn sign language well enough, such that it does not adversely affect their own child's development. And in the emerging market, this is even worse. Nine out of 10 parents unable to learn sign language. When you see a statistic like this, you know that an important problem is not being solved. And it affects a lot of people. More than 60 million are either a parent or a sibling to someone who's deaf or severely hard of hearing. So what is going on here? How come parents are unable to learn something so vital that will enable them to make a more inclusive family for themselves and their child? And the reason is that learning sign language today happens in brick and mortar schools, and they are few and far between. And if you want to substitute to normal classes, they will give you a book. And using a book to learn sign language is about as useful as using a book to learn to dance tango. It simply does not work. And that is why we are so excited to show you Tleil, where you can find a topic that is of interest to you, and you can learn through play in a fun and engaging manner. And you can also help you to review optimally what you have learned and retain what you have learned. And if you want to look up a word on the go, you can do that in our dictionary. And our users, this satisfies triple A rating for educational products, where we improve outcomes, where we lower the cost at the same time as we are improving access. And our users agree. They say that this is a course that fits everyone. A seventh grade teacher says that her students were engaged and wanting to learn more. And a parent to a four-year-old deaf daughter says that this is what she has been looking for for her family. And it also shows by our user growth, where we have 20,000 users in Norway currently using our application. And that is significant given that the native signing population in Norway is about 5,000. Our business model is long-term government contracts in countries such as strong social security. And it's a subscription model elsewhere. And in emerging markets, we work with NGOs to keep it free for as many as possible. We are currently launched in Norway, China, India and Indonesia. And over the coming years, we will focus on big European markets and the world as a whole. Our team has strong educational expertise, business expertise, technical expertise, and of course, we have a strong expertise in teaching sign language as well. Andrei, thank you so much. This is it. That's perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. So I would like to now invite the second finalist in category one, the CEO of VisualPhi. Hello. Hello. Perfect. So I will do the same next. So hello, my name is Manila Kaide and I'm the co-founder of VisualPhi. VisualPhi is a project created and run by both deaf and hearing people where everybody is equal. We offer accessibility through technology to make life easier for deaf people. According to the World Health Organization, more than 366 million people suffer hearing problems. And 1.1 billion people will be at risk to have hearing loss in the next years. Besides, more than a third of the population over 65 years old have a disability hearing loss. So they estimate around 1 billion people with hearing loss over 2050. Our system works with three kinds of detectors that are always listening. And when they detect a sound, send it to the principal hub when it is processed. When we identify the sound, we send a notification to the user's smartphone or any other portable. For example, users can decide when to decide with notification. I can choose if someone is knocking the doorbell, my smartphone notifies me, but if my baby is crying, my smartphone and my smartwatch notifies me. Or if the fire alarm is sounding or the lights in my house blinking on red. Now we are really focused on VisualPhi Places and improved solutions that allow us to open up a new B2B market for public and private identities such as hospitals, libraries, museums, making these facilities accessible for people with hearing loss and helping them to comply with the technical building code and other accessibility laws. VisualPhi Places runs with an improved recognition technology that we combine with special signal lamps capable of alerting even with a fall in the electrical system. But how we do it? Our sound recognition algorithm, we detect any alarm such as fire, gas, CO2 or any other equation. We can combine it with the building lights, as you can see on the video. And of course, users receive all the notifications in a visual or sensory way through their smartphones. We can see the video, but moreover, we can connect it to the client's platform to send a custom message in real time and control that as generated. European laws may ensure that no one is left behind and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals is really focused on universal accessibility for everyone. So we have a great opportunity, business opportunity in front of us. Right now we have more than the two million of euros opportunities. Okay, and we have signed an agreement with Telefonica in a communist game to assure our scalability. So this is the visual phases of the company, but we are 12 professionals working very hard the yesterday to develop highly innovative services and products and make the world a more accessible place. Besides, we are a pick or campaign and we are a company with a huge economic social ambition. That's all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. I would like to give the floor to the third and final finalist in category one world in sign. Oh, the interpreters in the background just for your information. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Stefan Helming and I'm so happy that we are the finals now. Now I want to want you to introduce to our next slide please. Next slide please. Yes, thanks. So at the moment we have a big community so in Germany we have 83,000 people in Europe, about 2 million in the world 70 million. So, yeah, please the next solution. Next. Next. Yeah. So we have the solution for the lack of communication because we don't have enough interpreter. So we have products that the whole world can use people with disabilities, people without disabilities. You can use our app and directly find your sign language interpreter. For deaf people and for hearing people both can be for better communication. Next. Next slide please. So here you see some screens where the world inside I think your mic just got muted. Can we stop the timer please. Oh my God all the time I was speaking about but can we start again please. Do you want to start the presentation as a microphone was muted and did you we just we did just didn't hear the last I think 10 seconds the rest was fine. Okay. No, no, no. Yes. Okay. So now this is an overview of our app. So it's very easy to get the information and to get an assignment which is important. So you don't have to wait all the time and you are you have the access to just have the access please the next slide. Oh, what we have is a 24 seven interpretation but it's there for the deaf and hearing people that can interpret all the time. So we can, they can manage the appointments so that the deaf people never have to organize anything and have to. We use visual, audit and written language. And yes, as I said, the interpreter services organized and what is really great in the future we don't want only the interpreter station we want also the very free learning system for all deaf people for hearing people for hearing people. So that we have one for everyone was emergency call. So I can a pop that that people can empower me call makes a call on their own. So first you write everything down. And then when you transmit the emergency call everyone is in everyone will be informed police stations and firefighters and yeah next slide. So for example, when something happens, the heart is not okay. And you want to communicate you cannot reach your phone you just take this button that is connected to it. And then everyone is informed by this police station and everyone and so they can rescue me. So we don't hearing people to do ourselves work and all types of lives. We are empowered. And also the police is involved. Please the next slide. So there you see that the emergency call system of us very very fast under 55 seconds. Yeah, we have. We have the sign language interpreter the emergency call system and the disaster protection is really really important for all the people that don't get the information always deaf people hard of hearing people. What is one lesson tsunami and everything we don't get the information equally. We want information via our app via push message that is very very fast. We are equally and we can do. So we don't want people to die. We want to save lives. We want to live equal for everyone and to rescue. If you remember the tsunami that happens in Thailand where the tourists died. That's possible. So we need a system where we all get the information at the same time when it's too late. We want one convention to rise to be equally to be supportive worldwide in Europe. We want to work with the world. We want that this is free for everyone. Thanks a lot. Thanks for your attention. Thank you so much world inside. I'm sorry I had to give them extra time just because of the technical glitches that were going on. Thank you so much for completing your presentation. I would like to move on to category two now. People persons with visual impairments. I would like to invite the first finalist in category two CEO of a remit VR. Yes. Yes, yes, my visible because I don't see my presentation. It will it will just come up now. Can you see it. Okay. Yes. Yes, I can start the timer as soon as the. Yeah, there we go. You can start. Okay. So my name is Max and I represent remit. We are a medical platform for home vision therapy utilizing virtual reality where FDA and CE medical certification class one. Next slide, please. There are 5% of kids all around the world that have problems with lazy eye and cross ties. Otherwise known as ugly opiate and strabismus. And if they're not treated or mistreated, they can actually lead to serious problems with learning motoric skills. And also self esteem. And they can lead to serious disabilities in adult life, and sometimes even depression. Next, those numbers translate to 2.5 million kids in European Union 1.8 million kids in US and 7 million kids in India. This is not a niche market and this is not a niche problem. It concerns millions of kids around the globe. Next. And currently doctors have only 2 available treatment solutions. The first one is medieval eye patch that it's absolutely hated by kids next. And it's also a stationary traditional analog vision therapy that is. Well, in one way inconvenient because it concerns commuting to clinics, but also it is not very efficient and is also not engaging for kids at all. Next. Remed has developed a disruptive solution that consists of 3 elements. The first one is around built from scratch, dedicated hardware. And the second is methodology that we developed with professors of ophthalmology vision therapists and optometrists that was coded into a set of therapeutic exercises. And the third is a control panel that enables therapists remotely access the data and change therapeutic parameters based on how the patient is performing in his at home therapy. Next solution is also covered 19 ready and we actually saw a great take of our services among our clients in central Europe during 2020. We saw double digit growth every six months. Next. Our solution is software hardware as a service. So it's only one flat price to the B2B clients for a monthly month of rehabilitation. And therefore there is no down payment and clinics only pay as they go. So it's very easy for everyone to access the service and every clinic to actually start cooperating with us. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. I would like to now invite the second finalist in category two. That is the CEO of a project Ray. I think you're muted interpreters. Can you hear him? Hello 123. Yes, that's better. Thank you so much. Okay. Hi everyone. Let me start. Thank you very much for the committee for selecting project Ray for this event. I suggest that you will skip to slide number four. Start from there. A project tray makes smart phones accessible for the blind and visually impaired. And we do it a little bit differently from any other vendor in this space. Next, next slide. Our phones are simple to use. Very easy to remember. And elderly people and non techie people. We actually the majority of the segment of this community can benefit by digital connectivity and online connectivity tools. Not less important. And let's move to the next slide. We partner with the Israeli mobile operators and together we provide a solution free of charge to any blind and visually impaired person in Israel. The result is that most of the visually impaired in the country use smart phones and get real time remote assistance and easy to use tools for free. Next. Our secret is based on Ray patented interface that is a high free interface that use finger gesture on the screen. A by movement in any one of four directions. A simple gesture that is true one click experience for the blind. We also set the utilities to a limited number of 15 essential tools required for daily life. And the menu options that are available for users are limited to seven for each function. This is it very easy, very easy to remember and very easy to use. The result is that even the elderly segment of the community will really represent about 65 and more percentage in the community can use smart phone without villain very easily and enjoy digital connectivity. Thank you. Thank you so much projector. So I would like to now invite the third and final finalist in category two. And that is feel if. Hello, I will raise my pen when I would like to go to the next page. Thank you so much. Okay. Hello, my name is Katarina and I'm a content designer at Phillip. I'm the major director of the Internet without pictures. All of human kinds knowledge is on the Internet today. A huge majority of that in the form of pictures maps charts and graphs. The problem is that blind people cannot access it. to change that. Ignoring Philips, the blind have the following technology at their disposal, screen readers, embossed print, 3D printing, and graphic bright display. But other than Philips, there is no other solution that allows blind people to fill images while being affordable. Mobile offers multi-sensor experience and can be independently operated by the blind person. Philips is also the first technology that supports the creation of digital tactile content like images, graphs, or maps. Philips is a standard tablet with a special relief overlay and special software. Relief overlay gives the user orientation on a flat surface. Touchscreen tracks the movement of a finger. Depending on that, software triggers different responses which are different vibrations, sounds, and speech. So by paying attention to responses and knowing where his finger is moving, the picture gets created in the user's brain. By using all these different sensations, Philips provides a multi-sensory experience. This is important because studies show that when more senses are engaged, better, faster, and easier than information is perceived, remembered, and learned. With Philips, you can fill and recognize digital images. Through different vibrations, one can feel different colors or follow the contours. The artificial intelligence recognizes the object in the image and Philips tells us which objects we are touching. We have developed many different depths for the blind, for learning, for browsing and field pictures on the internet, for drawing in four different colors, and for playing inclusive games. We also developed the Philips camera app so a blind person can take photo himself and identify their environment. But most important so far developed app is a field book maker for sighted people who can now create multi-sensory content for the blind and visual impaired called fieldbooks. We would like to connect all stakeholders on one Philips platform. In the end, let me present to you our team. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much, Philips, for that wonderful presentation. I would like to now move on to category three, which involves persons with speech impairments. I would like to invite the first finalist in category three, the CEO and founder of VoiceIt. And I believe you would like to share your own presentation. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. I'm Sarah, one of the co-founders of VoiceIt. Our mission through VoiceIt is to give people with speech disabilities their voices back, speech recognition for everyone. VoiceIt starts from a personal experience. My grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at age 40. You can see me in the red dress in this slide. Even as a young child, I felt her pain and frustration when it was so difficult for her to communicate even basic human needs, like I'm thirsty or it's cold. This is the day-to-day reality for millions of people around the world with speech disabilities, children with cerebral palsy and different forms of autism, adults with stroke, ALS in Parkinson's disease. So the solution we developed is called VoiceIt, where the only commercial speech recognition technology company in the world designed for non-standard speech patterns. Our first product is a mobile application. It learns the person's unique way of speaking through machine learning and AI algorithms. It works in any language and enables the person with speech disabilities to access smart assistance and communicate with other people, increasing independence and quality of life. We've worked with end users with disabilities to inform our design decisions together in our development. We have stakeholders that include the European Commission funding, as well as investors such as Microsoft and Amazon. On International Day of Disabilities in December 2020, we announced VoiceIt now makes Alexa accessible to people with disabilities, people who need the smart assistant the most. Hello, I'm Michael. Hello, I'm Wendy. And this is our life with VoiceIt. Ultimately, our vision is employing VoiceIt inside, integrating into existing devices, platforms, and software, making speech recognition truly accessible to people who need it the most. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Sarah, for that wonderful presentation. I would like to now invite the second finalist in category three, that is AppSec Network or Hand Help. So, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Perfect. So, you have our presentation? Right. Okay. Is this your presentation? Sorry. Sorry. I'm talking to the technical moderator. There we go. Perfect. Okay. So, hello. My name is Selina, and today I will present for AppSec Network. So, we all need an accessible emergency call to protect our most precious asset for all of us. Our health and our lives. And the existing problem is really that some billion people in the world cannot make an emergency call by phone. Next slide, please. So, in today's digital age, you see how you have to make the emergency call. It's true effects. So, this is not a solution, how we should solve it. So, if someone is going outside and has an emergency, no, one before, please, one slide before. So, we need a different solution, and we have this. We have the solutions that can be implemented immediately and worldwide. So, next, please. So, our very free emergency call app system has been developed for all people. So, our target group are all people in the world, not depending on disability or anything else. Next slide, please. So, in an emergency, all relevant information will be sent to the control center and first responders in a matter of seconds as a touch of a button, without calls, without language, without knowledge, and without language skills. So, here you see the document which will be sent to all the police station, so the next firefight stations and also people that you declared in your app before as they will get all the information and you can be rescued. So, this is really, really a good solution. And, yeah, we recognize that people with health impairments have particular needs and we implemented everything to them. So, yeah, here you see the emergency document again that will be sent to everyone. And next slide, please. No, no, here. The good thing is that we also have a patent on this, on the optimized emergency call system. That means you have, we have an app and also the extensions like with this, you click on the button and then we have the emergency call. Yeah. Our users can allow the police and first, yeah. And what is really good is that also deaf people will get directly a sign language interpreter and this is really important because people are empowered, people can do it on their selves. And in addition to an emergency call system, we also offer various variables and like also the health care watch. And, yeah, if like the VTEL data, next slide, please. If the VTEL data are not okay, we will get an automatic emergency call. Yeah. And what I want to say in my last sentence is that we really need the system. We already have the solution and we can implement it in every country in Europe and we can do this. So why don't we take the chance? So, thank you for your attention. Thank you so much. I don't know. Thank you. I would like now to invite the third finalist in category three, Pictogram or Yota Code. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Okay, so I would say next. Perfect. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity for Pictogram to become better known. Pictogram is more than application, it's a complete platform to enable augmentative and alternative communication for people with speech disorders. Next. Augmented and alternative communication, AAC refers to an area of clinical research and educational practice which attempts to study and compensate several disorders in speech language production and comprehension by using or by other means of communication. Next. Most of the tools and devices available for AAC are paper based with pictograms or captions. High tech solutions are mostly a digitization of the paper based tools. Next. We work at hard during two years in close relations with specialists on different speech disorders and AAC to create a revolutionary tool. Pictogram is designed with a human-centered approach. Our LMA is one language, one team. People with speech disabilities will have a communication solution managed, configured and monitored by therapists and parents involving them all in the process of learning new communication skills. We have proven the solution in five different centers in Mexico thanks to a collaboration with Robert Bosch Foundation and more than 100 kids have improved their pictogram based vocabulary in an impressive way already in the first weeks of use. Due to the flexibility in how pictograms are arranged and how devices are configured, therapists are discovering new ways of use every day. Next. You can follow a strong methodological approach of therapists or having total freedom of how to teach to construct messages when you're a parent. Everything is in the cloud, yet always a valuable eating without internet connection. Pictogram platform is made of four main elements. Next. The main one is the communicator, which is easy and intuitive, extremely simple. You can convert any device in a personal communication device ready to use as all the configuration is synchronized with the cloud. You only pay for a communicator account, which is 70 euros annual or 175 for unlimited access. Anyhow, you can try pictogram for free during three months. Next. Pictogram provides the freedom of access for parent caregivers and therapists. From it, communication devices and its vocabulary can be configured without touching them or changes take effect in real time. Next. You can modify the vocabulary at any time anywhere with pictogram supervisor. For example, just go to a museum, take a picture and make it available in your kids' device in few seconds. Next. The platform is loaded with big data analytics solutions for generating personalized reports on learners' progress or discovering new clues for a better intervention. Next. We are on a spinoff with the University of Haieng in Spain, participated by specialists in human language technologies. We provide a maximum scientific rigor to each product, both in its design and evaluation. Pictogram is our first product, and it could become a new standard in our mental and alternative communication. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Pictogram. We will move on to category four now, which is for persons with cognitive and intellectual disabilities. I would like to invite the first finalist in category four, Kapito App. If you can just unmute yourself. Okay. So do you hear me now? Okay. Sorry. So when you can see my presentation. Yes. Okay. So hello, my name is Valbuga. Thank you very much for the invitation to present Kapito, which is dealing with a specific problem. And this problem is people with learning difficulties and disabilities, they do not understand complicated written information, but they are not alone with this problem. More than half of the adult population faces the same problem, but almost 70% of all information provided to citizens, customers or employees is written on the language level B2 up to C2 on the European reference for language competences, and which is therefore too complicated for them. Editors and decision makers, they know this problem, and they know its consequences. But up to now there is a lack of useful tools to support them to write really in an understanding way. Kapito digital provides this support. You can copy and paste each information in this tool and check it in terms of comprehensibility. On the right side, you see not only the problematic passages, but also valuable tips how to improve your text. So you can edit your text directly in this tool and then see on the bar on the right side, on the right side, how far you have progressed in terms of comprehensibility. And you can also use the gender button to check your text in terms of diversity. You can choose the proper language level depending on the needs of your target group from A1 or A2 to B1. And if you have done with your text and everything is fine and you are wondering how can you put this text to your target group as excessively and conveniently as possible, you can put this everything in the Kapito app and there people, your users can choose individually that language level which they want to prefer for understanding, or they can choose to read a loud function or design language videos. So this is me and my partner, my co-founder, and our vision is a society in which people can learn, live, and work together with all their differences. And we see Kapito Digital as a tool which everybody enables to write understandable for everybody which we see as a key to this goal of our vision. So stay tuned, Kapito Digital will provide you to write understandable for everybody and help everybody to be included in our society. Thank you. Thank you so much Kapito. I would like to now move on to the second finalist in category four, Clara Software. Hello. Hi. Hi, thank you. So I'm Mary from Clara Software and we make software and apps that help people who have difficulty with reading and writing, whether that's dyslexia or speaking in another language or any difficulty with reading and writing. Next slide, please. So it reads any text, any texts on the screen, even on a piece of paper. It will read with high quality voices and 30 different languages and you can follow the text as it's being highlighted and read to you. So you can read the same speed as everyone else. It makes it much easier, less stressful, and you don't get so tired when you're having the computer read for you. So it's a toolbar that you can see at the bottom of the screen. Very easy to use. Next slide, please. As well as reading text aloud, it also helps you with spelling with a very visual spell checker and there's dictionaries as well to help you understand the meanings of words and there's a shortcut to speech to text software to dragon on a Windows machine and integrated on other devices. Next slide, please. It will read absolutely any document. There's a button, a scan button that OCRs the text and makes it readable. So there's never a point where you can't actually have something read to you, even in a picture. Next slide, please. So like I was saying, it's very easy to use to make a document accessible. Next slide. We also have a tool to help with tinting the screen. Some people find it easier to read text if the background is not white. So you can tint the screen a color of your choice, have a window or an underlining tool to help you follow the text. Next slide. We also offer some help with studying. We have mind mapping tools, Claro capture, which captures text and pictures and screenshots from all different documents and references for you. We also have audio note, which records audio very easily by one click. You can also use Claro writing helper, which is a brand new feature that helps you write essays. Next slide, please. Our software is available on all platforms, on Windows, on Mac, on Chromebooks and also on your Android phone and on iOS. We have apps that help you as well with reading and writing. Next slide, please. You can customize a toolbar. We try and make our software and our apps really easy to use and you can choose what the toolbar looks like, which buttons you can see just to make it how you would like to use it. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mary, for that wonderful presentation. I would like to now invite the third finalist in category four to Dormand University or Easy Reading, Dr. Suzanne Dirks. Yes, hello. Good afternoon to all to you. I will present to you the Easy Reading system, which was developed together with a large group of researchers and peer researchers in a European funded project. Okay, imagine you had a long and tiring day at work, but you quickly need to check the actual COVID-19 regulations. The website you always visit is not clearly structured. The current regulations are difficult to understand and you are short on time. What do you do? Change the font size in the browser? That won't help you much. Have the text read out to you? You don't know how that works. Visit a website and easy to read language that contains only the information from a week ago. For you, that means no access to the current COVID-19 information today. This is just an example of what people with cognitive limitations experience every day and this is where Easy Reading comes in. Next slide, please. Easy Reading is an open source software framework for users with cognitive disabilities to increase independent access to every web page. Today, Easy Reading contains 16 different support tools and additional tools can be easily added. When we develop the Easy Reading system, we wanted to achieve three important things. Next, please. Aim one is keeping all users at the digital origin and if users have problems to understand the web page, they can use the Easy Reading tools to get the help they need. All changes happen directly in the user's environment. The original web page stays as it is. Next, please. Aim two, empowering users with cognitive disabilities. Easy Reading helps users with cognitive disabilities to browse the web on their own terms. The user can decide for themselves, where do I need the help, what kind of help do I need, and how do I want to access the help. Next slide, please. Aim three, involving users with cognitive limitations and research and development. This is best explained by a quote of our peer researcher Dominik who said, as a peer researcher who has a disability of his own, I can best contribute my own experiences and perspectives. Next, please. In the Easy Reading project, people with cognitive disabilities, developers and researchers work together in all project phases. In summary, Easy Reading is a software from users for users with cognitive disabilities. Next, please. Let's go back to the initial situation. With Easy Reading, you can use your preferred COVID-19 website despite your temporary problems. Distracting elements are removed from the page. The text is read out to you. Symbols and explanations are displayed for difficult words. And now you can understand the current COVID-19 regulations. For you, easy reading offers support in case of temporary limitation. For people with cognitive disabilities, Easy Reading is a key enabler to digital participation. Next slide, please. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Easy Reading. Now let's move on to the last and final category, which is category five for persons with physical disabilities. I would love to invite the first finalist in this category, Magic View. Hi, thanks. You hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Can we share this presentation? Yeah, thanks. So thanks, Marcel, for having the opportunity to present Tarjanus Home Care Platform Project, which is sponsored by the European Union's Active Assistance Living Program. So basically, people are becoming older and they're giving you a lot of pressure on the healthcare. Costs are skyrocketing. At the same time, the seniors want to enjoy their older days in quality of life. Next slide, please. Hence, seniors should become more self-reliant. Our Tarjanus Home Care Platform helps seniors to stay within their own houses as years go by. We start with intuitive home automation to make sure the customers use their platform in its everyday life. Next, we are adding monitoring of activity levels and promote healthy living. And finally, we add safety so that incidents like falling are properly managed. Yes, next, please. So the core of the platform is an IoT home infrastructure that supports ultra-wide-band indoor positioning of the residents. We are able to track their motion and position within 10 centimeters of precision. Next, these positions are analyzed by deep learning algorithms yielding actual comfort, fatality, and safety services. Yes, please. Next, okay. So how it works. So the path of the user is tracked as he moves along in his residence. That residence contains assets, as we call it. These are objects of interest with the user's interests like chairs or kitchen things or couches. The transaction starts when the user enters his fence around the asset and ends when he leaves the fence. Transaction events are reported as IoT messages to some open source controller that contains the rules that translates those events to home automation actions. Rules and assets are managed by a back office service and that back office exposes APIs to third-party service providers. Yes, please. Yeah. So the infrastructure deploys its senior residences as an upmarket system lighting. You see it by the way behind me. That integrates ultra-wide-band sound and motion sensors. Yes, please. Our business model is to provide access to residential infrastructure to third-party services providers so that they can offer additional services for comfort, fatality, or safety under one single franchising umbrella. We certainly hope that you will join us and thank you for your attention. Thank you so much, Magic View, for that amazing presentation. I would like to now invite the second finalist in category five, the CEO of Travixi. Hi, hello. Hi. Sharing my screen. Thank you. Can you see me? Yes. So I will start with my questions. Did you ever think to yourself how a person in a wheelchair goes to the toilet on a plane? Have you ever booked an hotel room and when you got to the hotel on your holiday, you saw that you couldn't go in? It happened to me more than once. The problem is that travel agents are not accessibility experts. For example, a hearing impairment person will need light to indicate a knock on the door in all of these amenities. Comparing to a wheelchair user such as myself that will need these parameters, the crazy thing about it is that there isn't any one stand out for an accessible room. Every room looks different. This is why we're so needed. Our solution is a B2B solution a middle layer that helps hotel and flight booking. We integrate seamlessly to existing booking platforms and, of course, being done automatically. All of that for online and offline travel agencies. The best thing about it is that there isn't any need to disconnect from existing connections of a hotel or flight accommodation providers. We integrate in between a middle layer. Our database is being gathered by us and by collaboration with disability organizations around the world. So we certify every hotel with more than 90 accessibility parameters from the hotel inside and room area. Airlines also require notification before a traveler with disabilities is getting into the airport. They need to know the disability type of need and, of course, the equipment that they are carrying. We do it with a simple API call. It takes seconds to us and we ensure a relaxing experience for both clients and travel agencies. We're talking about the biggest and fastest growing minority in the world. Actually, in 2020, there are 1.2 billion people in the world who are disabled. 600 million out of them lives in developed countries and 70% of them travel between two to four times more than the usual traveler. So a huge market. Our goal in the coming year is to grow our destinations of accommodation from 15 destinations to more than 100 and to connect to these tier one companies that some of them were already in deep connection with and almost in the pilot phase. This is a great team of team and advisors. We have accessibility team, accessibility expert. We have travel expert. We have a programming expert and a business development expert. And, of course, our advisors. We are a world-winning startup. And one of the last wins that we had was the UN SDGs 2021. And with Travaxi, you can enjoy and become an accessibility expert. We can serve millions at a time. Thank you. Thank you so much, Travis, for that. I would like to now invite the final finalist in category five. And that is LifeTool. Hi. I'm Stefan from LifeTool. So good afternoon. It's a pleasure for me today to present to you our Winsim VR, which is a power wheelchair simulator to train, control and improve driving safety using virtual reality. So this was actually developed within the range of a cooperative funded Austrian project. Next slide, please. So the problem we want to tackle with Winsim VR is basically so that in Austria alone, for example, there are 1,800 accidents per year involving wheelchair users. So we know that the competent handling of a power wheelchair is essential for the security at home in road traffic and also during different leisure activities. So therefore, the training is required in the beginning. So our solution Winsim VR facilitates people with disabilities to learn and train power wheelchair control and to improve driving safety. Next slide, please. So we target the people that are dependent on a power wheelchair either from birth on or due to an acquired disability and who are actually are going to receive a power wheelchair or recently received one and really want to train safely a competent handling. The UI of Winsim VR is specifically designed to be operated by children and persons with learning disabilities and we also have a strong focus on therapists and power wheelchair providers. Next slide, please. So our objectives are we want Winsim VR want to provide a safe and affordable training for everyone who is using a wheelchair and who is going to get one. So we want to make use of virtual reality because we can provide with this one a really immersive experience. So we can really deep dive in the virtual world and this is also postures to the learning experience. So Winsim VR supports also wheelchair providers in their in their relation process regarding the driving skills and also behavior and traffic. All rides in Winsim VR can be saved for later review by supporting their approval. Next slide, please. So Winsim VR has different components. So we can also can drive in a protected area like park. You can drive in a flat. You can also use an elevator there. We also build the whole small city. So where the user can drive and deal with different situations. So we've zebra crossings and also face pedestrians, traffic lights and other vehicles. Next slide, please. So what we also feature is still races against time on four different tracks. We also offer explanatory videos so that helps us teach the basic behavior and tips for safe use. And of course, all texts in our in our Winsim VR are easy to understand language. Next slide. So our version comes in three different versions. So we have an Oculus Quest version, a desktop version, which will be released pretty soon, and a professional version which also features then a user administration and extensive protocol functions. Thank you. Thank you so much, LifeTool. Thank you for that. Okay, so first of all, I would like to thank all the finalists in all five categories for their excellent pitching presentations. And for all that you're doing in making ICTs more accessible for people with disabilities, you are truly at the forefront of this. We can now, I think, move on to the announcement of the winners. I would like to actually invite two very special panelists, Mark Wheatley and Veronica Montanero, both of who were also part of the judge judging session for this regional competition 2021. Can we pin Veronica and Mark, please? Hello, Mark. Hi. Okay, so I would like to just give me 20, no, 10 seconds. I'm just going to do something really quickly. Okay, perfect. So if everyone has, everyone is ready, we are going to start off with the announcement of category one. And I would like to invite Mark Wheatley for that presentation, for to present the winner of category one. Hello. So just to give some background, I have been part of the evaluating committee looking at the submissions for Accessible Europe. And I'm very delighted to announce the winner for category one. And in the top three, SineLab and Visual Fly and World in Sine EU, they were the three finalists. And the winner is VisualEye. Well done, VisualEye. Congratulations. VisualEye, can you hear us? Yes. Hello. Thank you so much. I would like to give the floor to you maybe for 30 seconds to a minute, if you would like to say something. Many congratulations to you. Yes, it's only a thank you very much for trusting VisualEye. We work day after day to achieve a more accessible world and recognitions like this encourage us to continue working and innovating. So and I miss in future is waiting for us. And thank you very much to help us to make it real. Thank you so much for that. Thank you. Okay, so let's move on to category two, persons with Marco Veronica will basically announce that. But basically, I would like to give the floor to Veronica to announce the winner in category two. Good afternoon, everybody. It is my great honor to announce the winner for category two. And the top three finalists in this category are Remed VR, Project Ray and Felix. And the winner is Remed VR. Congratulations. Can Remed VR please? I cannot find him in the participants list. I don't know what happened. Maybe he has another name. So I guess he Remed VR is not here. All right. We can move on to category three then. I would like to invite Mark again to announce the winner for category three. Thank you. So the top three finalists for category three were Voice It, Pans Help and Pictogram. And the winner is Voice It. Well done. Many congratulations, Sarah. Would you like to say a few words? Visel, thank you so much. It's really an honor and an inspiration to be able to participate in this event. And alongside so many amazing innovators and innovations, really changing the reality for people with disabilities in the EU and around the world. Our mission is making speech recognition accessible for people with speech disabilities. And we really, you know, we're a technology company. And we couldn't do it without the support and input from multiple stakeholders. And that's our partners working with us on testing and validating. And so for anyone who participated today and is in the audience viewing this, I'd love to invite you to reach out to us to be part of our testing and research to expand the impact that we can have again in Europe and around the world. So thank you so so much for the opportunity. Many congratulations, Sarah. All right. So I would like to now invite Mr. Veronica again to announce the winner in category four. Thank you, Michelle. And the top three finalists in category four are Capito app, Claro software, and Easy Reading. And the winner is Easy Reading. Many congratulations, Easy Reading. Dr. Dirks, would you like to say a few words, maybe? Yeah, I would just say thanks a lot to all of you. I would especially say a big, big thank you to our peer researchers, as you might have guessed, or as you might have known from our resources. This is a project where we closely work together with people with cognitive disabilities. And I'm so sure without their help, without their expertise and perspectives, we would never have been able to develop such a great software tool. And yeah, I'm just overwhelmed. Thank you very much. You're invited to test the system. You can just download it from the Firefox app store or from the Google Chrome store and just test it out, give us feedback. And yeah, thanks a lot again for the encouragement and honor to be here and to receive this honor to just to be here and to show our work to the world. Thank you very much again. Thank you so much, Easy Reading. Thank you so much, Dr. Dirks. Okay, so last and final category, I would love to give the floor again to Mark to announce the winner in category five. Thank you. And for the final category, and so in the final category, the three finalists were, and so this is for category five, Trabaxi, Will Sim and Magic, Magic View. And the winner is Magic View. Hello, Philip. Thank you. Congratulations to you. Would you like to say a few words? Yes, I do. So we work hard to let people with elderly age stay longer at home, which is despite their disabilities and help them with that. We only have a platform, so we need supporting applications. And I saw a lot of contests over here or participants over here that could really also contribute. So we would love to integrate with them and then you can always reach out to us to get the service better and to achieve the goal. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mark. Thank you so much, Veronica. Once again, thank you so much to all the finalists. All of you were truly, truly amazing. And like I said at the forefront of making ICTs more accessible. Congratulations to the five winners again. And I would like to give the floor, if your sloth is here, maybe to let us know a little bit more about the prizes. Thank you very much, Mashaal, for leading this beaching session and our sincere congratulations to the all winners of this contest. As I said already, special congratulations are going to you, but also congratulations are going to the all finalists who were identified as those which have been recognized. So therefore, it's my great pleasure also to inform that all finalists will be receiving very shortly a special recognition from the ITU, confirming their achievements. And in addition to this, we have prepared a special prize for each of the winners. They will be part of a special curation program which will be building their capacities in the standardization and patterns and the policy policies on the accessibility. And this will be done in the collaboration with the ITU smart incubator and done by the ITU. So I would like to thank very much to Anacom and for making this curation program happen. And also I'm looking forward to the all stakeholders to also continue contributing to our efforts in creating the enabling environments for the digital accessibility, including the ICD-centric innovation ecosystem for accessible Europe. So while thanking very much to all our participants of today's beaching session and the last session, I would like to thank also very much to the all participants of today's. This was a long day, but we learned a lot and we have also developed a lot of the capacity. And therefore, it's my great pleasure also to thank to our all technical support and provided by the captioners, interpreters who were with us during the whole day. Having said that, ladies and gentlemen, this brings us to the end of today, but not the end of the event. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock, the Central European time will be meeting again to continue our discussion and continue our elaborations on advancing the digital accessibility in Europe region. So with this, I would like to thank very much to all of you for today. And with this, we will be closing the meeting for today and looking forward to tomorrow. Before I'm doing this, let me check with my colleagues if everything is what has been said is right. And if I didn't forget about something, what would be essential? No, you already said everything is done. So with this approval and with these ladies and gentlemen for today, let's enjoy the rest of the day. And we still encourage you already now to download the report which we have launched, also investigating the different capacity building options, including the certification offered during this event to make sure that during this event, you are also receiving the special recognition and certificate of the achievements for this event. So thank you very much for today and we are looking forward to seeing you to the tomorrow at 10 o'clock Central Eastern European time. Thank you very much and have a lovely end of the day. Thank you.