Innovation

Summary of work

285 million people worldwide suffer from vision problems; 39 million of them are completely blind. The mission of the leading pharmaceutical company Novartis is to cure and to care. Its eye care division, ViaOpta, connects with blind and visually impaired people all over the world to increase their independence and quality of life.
ViaOpta has initiated two free applications to support the visually impaired and exploit the functionality of smartphones:

• As an alternative to human assistance or trained guide dogs, the ViaOptaNav mobile app combines location services, video-audio conversion and a mission-critical interface design to turn the ever-present smartphone into a truly valuable assistant for the visually impaired; continuously providing audio information helping them move independently. The users listen to turn by turn instructions to any given destination. Waypoints and upcoming junctions are identified with corresponding distances to improve the effectiveness of the route.

• ViaOptaDaily significantly increases the independence of the visually impaired. The interface and user interactions have been optimised to help them with everyday challenges and are available in 12 languages. It excels in eight functions by converting visual information to audible. The object, scene, banknote and colour recognisers identify visual information seen by the smartphone camera and provide audio detail. The talking timer, contact book and weather report functions convert text to speech. The magnifier is a single click loupe for low vision users. The variety of functions, streamlined design and mission critical communication make the ViaOptaDaily an extraordinary companion to blind and low vision users.

Judges' comments

Really nice initiatives that use accepted everyday technology to truly make a difference to people’s lives.