In order to better understand the targeted markets France, the UK, Austria and Switzerland, the company has conducted a market survey to analyze the market dynamics and the business potential for its tactile display for blind people. In the process Inventivio has visited the countries and contacted key stakeholders of the blind community. Also, extensive internet research has been conducted. On the basis of the collected information the company has developed business plans for each of the four countries.
Of key interest to the company is how each country supports its blind citizens with regards to financing assistive technologies for blind people in education, in the work space or for private usages such as mobility, taking part in society or accessing news and information. In all four countries the reimbursement is organized differently. The countries’ policies differ with regards to which use cases are supported (education, job, private), the levels of financial support and which financing bodies organize the reimbursement. For a company with Europe wide ambitions, these differences add significant complexities to do business in Europe.
A second focus of the market survey was to understand the sales channel in the four countries. Here again, it was revealed that the distribution landscape differs tremendously from country to country ranging from almost monopoly situations to non-profit sales models to a more regionalized set-up.
Due to the fact that the way the societies support their blind citizens differs strongly and many other business factors are not the same, Inventivio has developed country specific business plans for each of the four countries.
