Visual Notify - Improving Deaf People's Life

Project Information

Visualfy

Grant agreement ID: 662651

DOI

10.3030/662651

Project closed

EC signature date 9 February 2015

Start date 1 March 2015

End date 31 July 2015

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

FUSIO D'ARTS TECHNOLOGY SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Visualfy (Visual Notify - Improving Deaf People's Life)

Reporting period: 2015-03-01 to 2015-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Deaf people encounter several major barriers that prevent them from seamlessly integrating in society and exclude them from many ICT services that a hearing person simply takes for granted. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), partial hearing loss affects about 360 million people worldwide, and more than 1 billion people will be at risk to experience hearing loss in the next years. This in mind, the trans-disciplinary project team of Visualfy set out to tire down these barriers in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020.

With the help of SME Instrument Phase 1 funding, Fusió d’Arts Technology has developed a suite of Smartphone Apps, through which people with hearing deficiencies interact more seamlessly with their environment. The apps are marketed as different releases under the brand Visualfy, the name being derived from the combination of the words visual and notify.

You can download your version of Visualfy from http://www.visualfy.es/en/download. Visualfy Lite is available free of charge financed via add placement while Visualfy Premium, available for 1 Euro, is free of advertisement. There are also differences in the sleep mode. On the Lite version, you have to set the sleep mode manually, while this happens automatically on the Premium version.

Visualfy – Good things are coming!

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the five months SME Instrument Phase 1 project period, technical and commercial feasibility has been validated. One essential key to success is to identify and solve monetizable customer problems. Hence, following customer centred methodologies we:

a.) analysed the manifold problems faced by the Deaf community,
b.) developed and installed a prototype solution in customers premises and provided continuous service,
c.) confirmed our customers’ willingness to pay for our solution/service,
d.) formed an eco-system of stakeholders to assured that our production, fulfillment and maintenance costs stay below the price confirmed to be fair by our customers.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

On the basis of our technical and financial feasibility study performed we are now ready to go to market. Having proven that we are able to deliver on sweeping innovative solutions for a more inclusive and barrier free world, with the potential to fuel high growth, and to create skilled jobs, we are currently preparing an SME Phase 2 proposal backed by private co-investment.

Especially looking at the socio-economic impact, Fusió d’Arts has a strong relationship to the Deaf community, with deaf people forming part of the team, and the intent that everybody joining Fusió d’Arts has a basic understanding of the sign language. Moreover, to strengthen links with this closed community, Fusió d’Arts has signed collaboration agreements with the Federation of Deaf of the Valencian Community (http://www.fesord.org/) and the National Confederation of Deaf in Spain (http://www.cnse.es/) donating 0.7% of profits to educational programs with the objective to allow deaf to participate in society, access the labour market, and enable them to reach their full potential. A similar agreement to be signed with the Europe Deaf Federation is currently in preparation.

Visualfy's Smart Home Router - back

Visualfy App Notification Screens

Visualfy's Smart Home Router - front/top