Revolutionary project adapts low-cost electrical switches for people with disabilities

Successfully completed the closure of the initiative “Home, Inclusion & Innovation: A solution for the future”, carried out by the Innovation Center UC, Easy and 3M, which sought to promote proposals that improved the quality of life within the homes of people with disabilities, through ideas that developed adaptable or complementary devices to equipment and furniture, allowing better habitability and access.
With more than 52 projects postulated throughout Chile and two months of intense work, the contestants managed to impact and contribute with revolutionary ideas; being the 6 finalist proposals arranged in an “open source” format, which will allow the free reproduction of the prototypes developed, in order to be implemented in the use and access of those who require it.
After exhibiting their pitches and products at a prototype fair, the winning project was Inclusen, an initiative that made available the use and scope of switches for people with disabilities; secondly, Tati was awarded, a team that developed a transportable and low-cost clinical cot; while in third place was Multihand, an idea that adapts handles for various uses within the home.
Ramón Molina, executive director of the UC Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center, said that “promoting initiatives like these fill us with pride, since, through the alliance between academia, the public and private sector, it is possible to forge instances that promote equity and social inclusion, key elements in the current context that urgently requires spaces for discussion, elaboration and development of concrete solutions”.
During the process, the participants worked in several days held remotely and in person at the FabLab of the UC Innovation Center, following a methodology guided by experts that allowed them, in addition to turning their idea into a minimum viable product, professional development through a prototyping route, through healthy competition.
Cristián Jure, Easy’s Business Sales Manager, explained that “this innovation contest allowed us to demonstrate part of our purpose. At Easy we deeply believe that “home” is the one that adapts to you.  It adapts to your needs and the new circumstances that arise. Therefore, we are very happy that the winning solution will be, free of charge, available to all those who want to replicate it and thus be a contribution for those who really need it”.
The jury was composed of experts from the UC Innovation Center, Easy, 3M, the Ibero-American Center for Personal Autonomy and Technological Support, CIAPAT and the National Disability Service, achieving representation from the public, private and academic sectors.
For her part, Ximena Auil, general manager of 3M Cono Sur, comments that “we are very proud of the way in which these young people have been able to reimagine and make possible inclusive solutions that will make a difference in the day to day of many”
The initiative aimed at makers, students, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts, was sponsored by Senadis.

Eva Veloso, deputy national director of the organization, added that “we are very happy with the day we have just lived, we hope that this type of initiative will multiply, since they are instances where a better society can be built, with meeting spaces where the university, the state and the private sector come together, to build in a different and fairer society.”
With this initiative it is expected to be able to contribute to the inclusion and accessibility of people in situations of disability within their home.

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Original source in Spanish