India’s first disability focussed accelerator has invited applications from assistive technology startups for a 16-week long Summer Cohort programme.
The Assistive Technology Accelerator (ATA) has announced the launch of the programme called ATA Enable.
ATA will focus on startups that are creating technologies for people with disabilities and will help with scaling up and market access.
The Summer 2019 Cohort programme will commence in July 2019 and applications are being accepted here.
We believe that Technology can provide new ways of approaching problems and meaningfully improve lives of Persons with Disability, the programme states.
Technology doesn’t discriminate and that’s why we are excited to support companies that are leveraging power of Technology to address the challenges of disability. Eventual goal is to empower Persons with Disability and enable them to live an independent life with dignity, the programme adds.
“We had been working with a few assistive technology startups and realised this ecosystem needs a more strategic approach. This led us to launch ATA Enable to help these startups tackle the issues unique to this ecosystem. We are excited to work with more startups through this program going forward,” Prateek Madhav, CEO of ATA told Yourstory.
ATA was founded in 2018 by the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled in partnership with industry veterans like Ravi Narayan, CEO of T-Hub and Krishnamoorthy Ananthasivam, former Vice-President of Infosys.
Mahantesh GK, Founder and Chairman of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled; and VS Basavaraju, State Disability Commissioner of Karnataka are among disability experts on the accelerator’s advisory board.
Focussed on its mission of improving the lives of the disabled, ATA aims to create an ecosystem that prioritises product development and enables market access through ATA’s wide mentor pool and partner NGOs.
The accelerator will also aid startups to get in touch with the disabled community in order to provide scalable business models.
According to the World Health Organisation, over a billion people across the world live with some form of disability.