Entrepreneurs encouraged to tap into creative accessible technologies market

28 Oct 2014 12:04 PM

Government calls for more innovation in gadgets for disabled people and is offering £50,000 in brand-new prize, in a £400,000 competition.

International accessible technologies market worth $3 billion, and yet there’s a ‘serious gap in the British market’ say ministers.

British entrepreneurs are being challenged by the government to develop imaginative and creative technological adaptations to help Britain’s 12.2 million disabled people and their families lead more independent lives.

One in five people in the UK have a disability and disabled people and their households have a spending power of over £200 billion. Yet the development and manufacture of aids, adaptations and products for disabled people has not kept pace with the use of new technologies, like smartphones, GPS, plasma TVs, Kindles and the internet.

The government’s Accessible Technology Prize aims to inspire technological innovation to assist disabled people in fields as diverse as education, the home, leisure, transport and work. Ministers hope it will encourage more budding entrepreneurs to tap into a market predicted to be worth over £500 million in Britain – and $3 billion internationally.

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