Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions

See full speaker line up

Bringing together global experts and new voices to share big ideas and ask the question: What next for disability innovation?

[13th & 14th Sept 2023 - recordings now available for catch-up]

Catch-up on the recordings

Professor Cathy Holloway - Global Disability Innovation Hub A journey of disability innovation: the good, the bad, the untold

Kylie Shae - WHO The global need: AT within health systems, an emerging priority?

Iain McKinnon - Global Disability Innovation Hub Can cities be inclusive?

Mikaela Patrick- Global Disability Innovation Hub Can cities be inclusive?

Maria Clara Arrubla Palacio - Global Disability Innovation Hub Can cities be inclusive?

Dr D Vasudevan - Varanasi Smart Cities Ltd Can cities be inclusive?

Fuad Jamil - Kota Kita Can cities be inclusive?

Utsav Choudhury - National Institute of Urban Affairs Can cities be inclusive?

Tamirkhuu Narangerel - Universal Progress Independent Living Center (ILC) Can cities be inclusive?

Q and A - can cities be inclusive?

Fre Seghers - Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) Strengthening Government Systems To Empower Children via Early Access to AT

Jamie Danemayer - Global Disability Innovation Hub Innovative data use: can we learn more from what is already available?

Dr Tigmanshu Bhatnagar - Global Disability Innovation Hub Innovation: are ecosystems ready to scale for success? [introducing]

Pete Donnelly - Founder of Wheelchair Skills College Embedding vital life skills into education to increase access to life opportunities

Niall Marshall - Koalaa How Koalaa is aiming to create sustainable access to prosthetics globally

Iain McKinnon & Mikaela Patrick - Global Disability Innovation Hub Evolution of Inclusive Design

Lizzie Smith - Founder of Gradatim My entrepreneurial journey: as a young person with cerebral palsy

Fernando Bothelo - UNICEF Assistive Technology: what’s missing and why aren’t we there already?

Nick Gompertz - Founder of EarSwitch What next for disability innovation; assistive tech build in as the new standard of tech accessibility for all?

Maryam Bandukda - Global Disability Innovation Hub Participation and Leadership [introducing]

Amba Salelkar - International Disability Alliance (IDA) No tech about us, without us

Banya Ojok - International Disability Alliance (IDA) No tech about us, without us

Anna Landre - Global Disability Innovation Hub & Professor Catherine Holloway - Global Disability Innovation Hub What fails: and what's not needed, Disability Dongles

Dr Vicki Austin - Global Disability Innovation Hub What works

Dr Vicki Austin - Global Disability Innovation Hub On joy and justice

Christopher Patnoe - Google Inclusive Innovation

Kush Kanodia - social entrepreneur How disabled people are leading innovation and systems change in the UK

Puneet Singhal - Global Network Young People With Disabilities Disability Justice and Stigma – Pathways to Change

Professor Sujatha Srinivasan - Indian Institute of Technology Madras Beyond Barriers: Journeying from Exclusion to Inclusion with R2D2 and NCAHT-IITM

Roshni Poddar - Microsoft Research India Learning opportunities for blind students - numeracy, logical thinking and accessible artifacts

Dr Andrew Blaikie - CBM How simplicity, affordability, and appropriate technology can create life-changing impacts

Can para-sport drive community-level change in Sub Saharan Africa

Jennifer Wong - Loughborough University London
Prof. Mufunanji Magalasi - University of Malawi
Samuel Nakhozwe Nkhoma - I’mPOSSIBLE Educator / Para athlete / Lawyer

Pascal Bijleveld - CEO of ATscale Catalyzing action for millions more people to access assistive technology in LMICs

Lydia X. Z. Brown Resisting Cooptation of Disability Justice Revolutionary Dreams

Dr Leda Kamenopoulou - UCL Accessibility and inclusion for deafblind people living in the Global South

Systems and action to advance disability inclusive financial services in the UK.

Kathryn Townsend - Head of Customer Vulnerability Government Disability & Access Ambassador (banking sector)

Daniella Decker - International Finance Corporation Disability inclusive financial services

Local Innovation and Production Ecosystem Building in Nepal

Ben Oldfrey - Global Disability Innovation Hub
Amit Ratna Bajracharya - Certified Prosthetist Orthotist Limb Care Nepal
Ganga Gurung - Occupational Therapist

Tom Shakespeare - LSHTM Participation and Leadership. the ghost in the machine": putting disabled people back in the driving seat

Future tech: revolutionary solutions and AI – the new face of disability inclusion?

Professor Cathy Holloway - Global Disability Innovation Hub
Youngjun Cho - Global Disability Innovation Hub
Richard Cave - Global Disability Innovation Hub
Brian Mwenda - Hope Tech and Senses Hub

The Start-up Model for Disability Innovation in Africa: A Journey through the Eyes of an Entrepreneur in Ghana.

Derick Omari - Technology Entrepreneur, Disability Inclusion & Accessibility Consultant

The Start-up Model for Disability Innovation in Africa

Bernard Chiira - Kenya Country Representative (GDI Hub CIC) and Director of GDI Hub's Innovate Now accelerator

Gifty Ayoka: Breaking Communication barrier in Ghana using Google’s Project Relate App

Summit flyer

Speakers

Here's a snap-shot of who will be joining this years summit...see the speakers page for full details. More being added.

Dr Vicki Austin

Co-founder and CEO of CIC

Lizzie Smith

Founder of Gradatim

Pete Donnelly

Founder of The Wheelchair Skills College

Photograph of Pollyanna a white woman wearing a dark blue Jumper. Pollyanna is outside, it is a sunny day

Pollyanna Wardrop

GDI Hub Financial Inclusion Researcher

Associate Professor Youngjun Cho

Associate Professor at UCL Computer Science & Director of MSc DDI & Computer Scientist

Kathryn Townsend

Head of Customer Vulnerability Government Disability & Access Ambassador (banking sector)

Coloured photograph of Fernando, a white man with short dark hair. Pictured here wearing a suit and stood next to a UNICEF sign. Smiling widely.

Fernando Botelho

Programme Specialist, Assistive Technology, UNICEF

Dr Tigmanshu Bhatnagar

Research Fellow, GDI Hub

A coloured photograph of Amba, an Indian woman with short dark hair, wearing glasses

Amba Salelkar

Senior Manager, Helpdesk, at the International Disability Alliance

A coloured photograph of Banya, a black man wearing a suit and smiling towards the camera

Banya Ojok

International Disability Alliance, Assistive Technology User Fellow

Kylie Shae

Team Lead, Access to Assistive Technology, at World Health Organization

A photograph of Anna, a white woman with short dark hair who is smiling towards the camera

Anna Landre

GDI Hub PhD student and Research Fellow

Bernard Chiira

Kenya Country Representative (GDI Hub CIC) and Director of GDI Hub's Innovate Now accelerator

Mikaela Patrick

GDI Hub Head of Inclusive Infrastructure and Climate

Jamie smiling to the camera holding a bouquet of flowers

Jamie Danemayer

GDI Hub PhD student and Research Fellow

Professor Cathy Holloway

Co-founder and Academic Director of GDI Hub

Christopher Patnoe

Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for EMEA at Google

Iain McKinnon

Co-founder of GDI Hub and Director of Inclusive Design

Pascal Bijleveld

CEO of ATScale

Dr Leda Kamenopoulou

Dr Leda Kamenopoulou, Associate Professor, IOE, UCL.

Professor Sujath with black and grey hair smiling at the camera. She is wearing spectacles

Professor Sujatha Srinivasan

Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Madras Honorary Professor, UCL

A white man with short hair, smiling towards the camera

Nick Gompertz

CEO/ Director EarSwitch Ltd

Colour image of Ben Oldfrey smiling at the camera

Dr Ben Oldfrey

Lecturer/Assistant Professor at UCL

Brian Mwenda

Founder & CEO at Hope Tech; Products Director at Senses Hub

Photograph of Derick, a young black man wearing a suit. Smiling towards the camera.

Derick Omari

Technology Entrepreneur, Disability Inclusion & Accessibility Consultant

Photo: Lydia smiles and tilts their head slightly to the side, looking confidently at the camera. They are a young-ish East Asian person with a streak of teal in their short black hair, wearing glasses, a cobalt blue jacket and navy tie, with a blue copper wall behind them. Photo by Sarah Tundermann.

Lydia X. Z. Brown

Founding Executive Director, The Autistic People of Color Fund Vice Chair & Past President, Disability Rights Bar Association Lecturer in Disability Studies and Women's and Gender Studies, Georgetown University

Puneet with black hair, wearing a checked shirt while smiling at the camera

Puneet Singhal

Community manager at Global Network of Young Persons with Disabilities & Founder of Ssstart

An Indian female with long black hair wearing spectacles.

Roshni Poddar

Research fellow at Microsoft in Bangalore

A white male wearing spectacles and a blue checked shirt, smiling at the camera

Richard Cave

Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), PhD candidate at University College London

Dr Blaikie, a white male with dark brown hair and wearing glasses and a light blue shirt

Dr Andrew Blaikie

Consultant Ophthalmologist in NHS Fife and Senior Lecturer in the Infection and Global Health Division team at the University of St Andrews.

Rama in a white shirt looking at the camera while smiling

Rama Gheerawo

Director, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art RCA Reader in Inclusive Design

Dr Kush Kanodia

Kush is a disability rights and race equality champion, a multiple award-winning social entrepreneur and a systems leader.

Rama Gheerawo

Director, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art RCA Reader in Inclusive Design

Amit Ratna Bajracharya.

Managing Director, Certified Prosthetist Orthotist Limb Care Nepal Pvt Ltd.

Ganga Gurung

Occupational Therapist

Prof Mufunaji, balck male smiling at the camera

Prof. Mufunanji Magalasi.

Associate Professor of drama and development communication at the University of Malawi.

Jennifer Wong

Project Manager for Para Sport Against Stigma

Samuel Nakhozwe Nkhoma

I’mPOSSIBLE Educator/Para athlete/Lawyer

Register for Disability Innovation Summit

Summit flyer

#GDIx events

Build-up events across the summer that feed into the Disability Innovation Summit

Pre-summit events

Launch event: England Country Capacity Assessment of AT Thursday 7th Sept 2023, 1-2pm BST [online event - Register now]

This digital launch will be an opportunity for us to present report findings, sharing more on the complex state of AT in England. While we found that delivery systems tend to provide quality products that have a strong, positive impact on people’s lives, processes are often slow and stressful for users and providers alike. This research aimed to support policymakers in identifying actions to strengthen service delivery to better meet disabled people’s needs, improving outcomes for AT users and reducing inefficiencies in the current approach.

Building a roadmap for Assistive Technology innovation Thursday 7th Sept 2023, 1-4.15pm BST [in person event - Register now]

Bringing together researchers, industry experts, clinicians and innovators to showcase the latest interdisciplinary research in AT innovation, considering how research translates into new products and services, and how we can create a roadmap for the advancement of Assistive Technology. This event is brought to you by TIDAL Network Plus - Transformative Innovation in the Delivery of Assisted Living products and services, supported by Health Innovation Manchester.