The project will be implemented with the active participation of three partners: Synergia, NRS, and Adaptor. All of them have the expertise to implement the envisaged tasks and will bring value to the technological development of SoundVision.
Scalefocus
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Synergia Foundation
Synergia Foundation was established in 2015 with the mission to improve the well-being of people with visual impairments in Bulgaria. The goals of the organization are related to the implementation of successful practices in the field of social entrepreneurship, assistive technologies, and innovations for people with visual impairments.
The foundation`s talented team of blind people offer services to sighted people as a form of entrepreneurship and proactive approach, which changes the attitudes and raise awareness of the society.
The main activities of the Synergia foundation are focused on providing support to visually impaired people in Bulgaria by enhancing the quality of their lives in its various aspects. The project deliverables will be created with the same goal. Hence by becoming a partner to this project, Synergia follows its mission: to promote the well-being of visually impaired and blind people in Bulgaria.
In the initial phase of the project Synergia is assigned a key responsibility: to perform the user needs requirements analysis, and to determine the basic user profiles. At the same time, Synergia will have a leading role in defining the system and user functionalities of the products. This task will be accomplished with the help of experts who are closely involved with the activities of Synergia. The majority of these experts is comprised of young visually impaired and blind people.
At a later stage, Synergia will coordinate the verification of developed hardware, which will be carried out through testing the hardware devices by its potential users. The users themselves will come from the target group of visually impaired among which Synergia has established a good reputation.
Norsk Regnesentral (NRS)
NRS is a private, independent, non-profit foundation established in 1952. NRS carries out contract research and development projects in the areas of information and communication technology and applied statistical modeling. The clients are a broad range of industrial, commercial, and public service organizations in the national as well as the international market. Our scientific and technical capabilities are further developed in cooperation with The Research Council of Norway and key customers. The results of our projects may take the form of reports, software, prototypes, and short courses.
NRS will contribute to the research of the software app, as well as organizing the user involvement with the focus group. NRS will also participate in scientific work in the project. NRS’ experience is in applied sciences and development in various application areas such as health and welfare, universal design, user interaction, information security, culture, and so on. NRS has experience in developing prototypes and frameworks for businesses and public sector.
NRS will contribute to the development and the requirements analysis, participate in research of the app functionalities, research of machine learning models, perform usability studies, evaluate privacy and security, evaluate universal design, supervise user involvement and focus groups, and organize user testing.
Adaptor Hjelpemidler AS
Adaptor Hjelpemidler AS wants to contribute to increased well-being and simplification of everyday tasks for the elderly and visually impaired. Through the development and customization of products for this group, the goal is that the individual achieves a higher level of activity both at home and in the workplace, and in this way gets a better quality of life!
Adaptor continuously works to bring out new exciting aids. With more than 40 years of experience, it has a network with more than 200 partners, both nationally and internationally. The Adaptor is going to support the Project Promoter as main project initiator and give valuable input for the overall well-being of the elderly and visually impaired people. Adaptor will assist us to accomplish the main project goal with know-how, distribution channels, and other supportive functions.
Their role in this project is to be the one who knows the market and the products. They are regularly visiting international exhibitions having meetings with suppliers and checking out new products and the development in the market. They are an experienced partner in the international market, with good knowledge of the market situation, both in Europe and Scandinavia.
In Norway they have very good knowledge about the customers and their needs, and they are often invited to meetings and happenings arranged by The Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, who is their owner. This brings them very close to the customers and end-users.
They are a member of Nordic Vision Forum, which is a forum involving companies from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. That gives them the opportunity to discuss solutions with partners all over Scandinavia.