Expert meeting on Assistive Technology & e-Accessibility Workshop, 25 March 2009, Brussels

Objectives of the meeting

E-inclusion means ensuring that mainstream ICT products and services are usable by as many people as possible, and the use of ICT to overcome social and economic exclusion. The objective of this meeting was to explore ways to better implement ICT assistive features, either as a part of mainstream technologies or in assistive technologies (hereafter "AT"). Different aspects were addressed (technical, market, legal) from the perspective of relevant constituencies (users, industry, authorities).

The European Commission wanted to facilitate an exchange of views and experiences with a view to identify possible coordination or supporting actions, including at European level.

The report of the meeting is available .

Presentations done by speakers at that meeting can be downloaded below, under the respective agenda item.

Subject	Speaker	Presentations
Presenting the challenges
10:00 – 11:15 Setting the scene
Impact of technology trends on e-Inclusion policy and practice	Gregg C. Vanderheiden
Fragmentation of the AT industry - how to improve competitiveness	Carmen Pastor
Key barriers for users	Peter Brass
11:15 – 11:45 Industry perspectives
AT industry opportunities and challenges	Adam Wing
Specific market factors limiting the development and use of technology to improve the lives of the visually impaired	Michiel Van Schaik
Ongoing initiatives and how to solve the challenges
12:00 - 12:45 The AT Market Value-Chain
"Raising the floor" initiative	Gregg C. Vanderheiden
Accessibility interoperability Alliance – AT and AT interfaces	Andreas Erbert
Social service providers	Steve Barnard
12:45 – 13:30 Industry coordination and cooperation with stakeholders
AAATEs activities in the AT field and their current opening to industry participation	Anna Liisa Salminen
EDeANs activities on design for all and how to interact with AT	Pier Luigi Emiliani
AEGIS-project	Karin Slegers
Sharing Assistive Technology Expertise across networks and communities – The Experience of AbilityNet in the UK	David Banes
EU and Member States support tools
14:15 – 15:00 EU and MS support tools
EC support tools: FP 7, CIP, studies	François Junique EC (DG INFSO)
Standardisation activities	Martina Sindelar EC (DG ENTR)
Funding schemes for disabled users to buy assistive technology across MS - challenges and opportunities	Inmaculada Placencia EC (DG EMPL)
Application domains - the way forward
15:00 – 16:00 Home based applications
Traditional computers and WEB 2.0 applications	Abou-Zahra Shadi	to view the slides please access the W3C web site
Mobile communication and COST 219	John Gill
Digital-TV and brown goods	David Johnston
Smart house and white goods	G. Zimmermann
16:00 – 17:00 Public applications
Employment issues	Sean Smith
ATMs and transaction terminals	Jose Á. Martinez Usero
"Stand alone" assistive technology – future R & D	Mathijs Soede
Last update: 13/09/2011

Expert meeting on Assistive Technology & e-Accessibility Workshop, 25 March 2009, Brussels

Objectives of the meeting

Presenting the challenges

Ongoing initiatives and how to solve the challenges

EU and Member States support tools

Application domains - the way forward