MWCapital Selects Two Projects to Improve Lives

MWCapital Selects Two Projects to Improve Lives

d-LAB, the Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) digital transformation programme that boosts the use of mobile technology to improve people’s lives, has held the Premios d-LAB awards ceremony. The names of the two winning projects of the first challenge, aimed at boosting mobile and digital solutions to empower people with disabilities, have been announced.

One of the winners is Irisbond, who have created a digital system that allows a computer cursor to be controlled with eye movements by means of a standard webcam. Wayfindr, from the United Kingdom, is the joint winner, having created a digital navigation system designed for people with visual impairment that works with auditory instructions. The two winning projects have been selected from among more than 50 submissions, 40% of which are international initiatives from 14 different countries including the United States, Canada, Slovenia and Israel, among others.

The two winners have been selected by an Advisory Committee, a group of external experts that support d-LAB with their expertise in technology, business and social impact. d-LAB will support the two winning initiatives in undertaking a pilot test. Initially, the programme will accompany them in the development phase to analyse their needs and identify possible partners in the consortium. Following this first phase, d-LAB will also participate in the projects’ execution phase for the launch and implementation of an initial pilot test in Spain and provide them with the necessary tools for communication and diffusion.

The launch of the programme’s second challenge has also been announced at the Premios d-LAB awards ceremony: “Transforming the use and governance of personal health data“, which will be open until 27 June. The aim of this challenge is to encourage the design of new solutions that allow citizens to share and use their personal health details to contribute to accelerating research and to the sustainability of the public health system. The winning proposals will be announced in September 2017.