The final of the 4TU Impact Challenge took place on the eve of Slush 2021, the biggest tech event in Europe. The jury chose Hable, a start-up from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), as the winner. The company has developed a device that enables blind and visually impaired people to control their smartphones by means of Braille. “This way, they can still stay connected to the people around them,” says Ayushman Talwar, co-founder of Hable. The jury considered the entrepreneurs of Hable to be very special because they have very good contact with their users and customers. Consequently, their product fits in seamlessly with the needs of their users.
In the 4TU Impact Challenge, the best students from the four Dutch technical universities compete against each other. Each university had already held its own preliminary round in the spring. Two student teams per university were chosen. They pitched their idea during the national event, which took place this year in Helsinki (Finland) during the Slush event.
Read more about Hable here
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From stopgap solution to start-up
The founders of Hable are highly motivated to help blind and visually impaired people all over Europe with their device. Ayuahman Talwar initially developed the first prototype of the Hable One, as the product is called, for his blind grandfather. At the time, he never expected it to grow into a fully-fledged start-up, as he previously told Innovation Origins. The Hable One is a separate device that links to a smartphone. It enables the blind and visually impaired to type and navigate through their phone. The six keys lets them type all alphabetic letters, numbers and punctuation marks with the aid of Braille. The smartphone itself can be left in a bag or pocket while calling or apping.
Read more about the previous edition of the 4TU Impact Challenge here.
Promising innovations
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