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UCL sets up specialised hub to improve the lives of millions of people with disabilities

A specialist innovation hub, set up in partnership with UCL and others, is accelerating the global development of disability innovation and assistive technology.

A man in a wheelchair dancing with another man for National Paralympic Day.

5 November 2021

The Global Disability Innovation (GDI) Hub, based at Here East in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is driving disability innovation forward for a fairer world. Researchers from UCL and other organisations are working on projects to increase access to assistive technology to those that need it.  

GDI Hub have made impact their goal and currently have initiatives running in 35 countries, including Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. 

UCL is involved in some particularly exciting work in Kenya, a country with a burgeoning tech sector, that’s at risk of leaving people with disabilities behind. An organisation called Motivation is helping to change that, by developing the next generation of wheelchairs for low to middle-income countries.  

Another project, in Uganda, is using assistive technology and accessible learning materials to improve learning outcomes for children with hearing and sight impairments. 

Hosted by UCL’s Department of Computer Science, the Hub was set up with help from UCL Innovation & Enterprise and the Faculty of Engineering Enterprise team. Projects run by the research and practice centre have opened up access to assistive products and services to 21 million people worldwide since 2016.  

Commenting on the Hub’s success, its Academic Director, Professor Catherine Holloway, who set up the centre with Victoria Austin and Iain McKinnon, said: "We were born out of the London 2012 Paralympic Legacy and since that time, we’ve achieved more than we ever thought possible. Today, GDI Hub is the first World Health Organisation Collaboration Centre on assistive technology, which demonstrates what collaboration, partnerships and creating momentum behind a movement can do." 

Read the full story on the UCL Innovation & Enterprise website. 

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  • Credit: GDI Hub.

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