Technology innovation is not working for everyone. But cities can help…
Incubators, accelerators, and urban innovation ecosystems worldwide are failing people with disabilities. But we can fix that. And some new help is on the way.
Technology continues to advance rapidly into our daily lives. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are more than 8 billion mobile telephone subscriptions in the world — several hundred million more subscriptions than people. Cities around the world are undergoing a dramatic digital transformation. They are using innovative technology products and smart solutions in creative ways to allow people to report issues like potholes and broken traffic lights, create direct and personalized channels to issue city alerts, facilitate digital or contactless payments for city services, and allow people to remotely manage court cases and legal proceedings. The market for smart technologies to support this digital transformation of cities will reach $2.5 trillion by 2025. Innovation supports the growing extent to which cities and people in cities are using these exciting technologies and solutions.
But we know that these technologies and innovations do not work for everyone. According to a Smart Cities for All survey, 60% of global experts say Smart Cities are failing persons with disabilities today. Just 18% of experts report that the Smart City initiatives familiar to them use international standards for ICT accessibility. Today’s innovation ecosystems are not well prepared to improve on the existing digital divide for persons with disabilities. They are likely making it worse. In late 2018 and early 2019 Smart Cities for All surveyed more than 170 entrepreneurs in technology incubators worldwide. Less than half, just 43%, had a strong understanding of accessibility and inclusion in their own product development and user experience (UX) design processes.
And fully one third of the entrepreneurs surveyed worldwide were not sure if persons with disabilities could even use the technology products and solutions they were currently developing. The good news is that 81% of the entrepreneurs said they would like to participate in programs on how the innovation process can better focus on accessibility and inclusion.
At Smart Cities for All, we believe that inclusive innovation leads to technology products and smart solutions that work better for everyone, including persons with disabilities and older persons. Closing the digital divide for the disability and aging communities in Smart Cities will require infusing inclusion, accessibility, and universal design into the innovation of new technology solutions at a scale much greater than is happening today. Soon we will have a new resource to help us do exactly that. Next week, on Monday May 6th, we will launch the newest tool for our Smart Cities for All Toolkit.
With support from and the partnership of AT&T, we have developed the Inclusive Innovation Playbook. It will lay out specific actions that Smart Cities around the world can take to ensure that design for inclusion is an integral aspect of entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems.
We look forward to launching the new tool and working with cities and incubators worldwide to make technology innovation more diverse, more inclusive, and work better for everyone!
