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Audio-Visual System for the Blind Allowing Visually Impaired to See Through Hearing

Objective

According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 285 M visually impaired around the world, of which 39 M are blind and 246 M have reduced vision. These figures are expected to increase drastically on coming years mainly due to the main risk factors sight damage 1) ageing of population and 2) increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes, which is mainly driven by excessive consumption of processed foods containing added sugars.
Currently, blindness has no cure, and unfortunately, will not have it on the near future. As a result, the unique action that visually impaired can take is to use assistive devices to cope with their condition. The most widely used approach is the so-called cane together with guide dogs. This devices are solely intended to avoid obstacles and navigate to locations that the dog is been trained for. However, these approaches have huge limitations singe are solely intended to avoid obstacles, not allowing blind to understand their environment. Eyesynth has developed for the first time an audio-visual system consisting of a glasses embedded with a pair of cameras that are able to accurately reconstruct a 3D scene and codify it into abstract and easy to understand audio for the blind. We can see it as an advanced sonar that stimulate certain brain zones allowing blind to associate spatial information with abstract sounds, being possible to interpret the environment with an unprecedented level of detail.
We will sell our product first through a B2B approach, partnering with large organizations for blind, associations, ophthalmologist and optical stores. Once initial traction and product trustiness is achieved, we will move to B2C through online distribution By these means we will enter the global market for assistive technologies for visually impaired, which will grow at < CAGR of 7% until 2020, reaching a value of almost € 2,2Billion. We expect to achieve a turnover of €27,7M in 2013, generating 36 new employments.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

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Coordinator

EYESYNTH SL
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 035 265,00
Address
CALLE GINJOLS 1 EDIFICIO CEEI
12003 CASTELLON DE LA PLANA
Spain

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Este Comunitat Valenciana Castellón/Castelló
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 478 950,00
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