In the week of the first EU Digital Assembly in Brussels, the Vodafone Foundation has launched the Smart Accessibility Awards.

It’s a €200,000 (£176,000) competition to promote the development of IT applications designed to improve the lives of people with disabilities and older people, to help them become more actively involved in society. 

The programme is supported by, and co-organized with, AGE Platform Europe, the European network of around 160 organisations of and for people aged 50 and over, and the European Disability Forum (EDF), the NGO that represents the interests of 80m Europeans with disabilities.

The competition will award the best smartphone application across four different categories. The  Social Participation award is for apps which help users to participate actively in todays society and benefit from the facilities that the new technologies can offer, whatever their age, disability and/or capacity (E.g. use the web and social media through mobile devices, contact people using mobile devices to the same extent as everyone else etc).

The Independent Living award is for apps which help users to be more autonomous and perform daily tasks independently (E.g. using domestic appliances such as washing machines or refrigerators, opening doors safely, etc).
The Mobility award is for apps which enable users to move around more freely and safely using the whole range of transport modes. It can also refer to the use of mobile devices in order to be guided in unknown environments.

Finally, the Wellbeing award is for apps which improve the users health and overall feeling of wellbeing.

All qualifying entries will be evaluated in November by a jury, consisting of representatives from AGE Platform Europe, European Disability Forum and Vodafone Foundation. 12 finalists will be selected and requested to present their application before the final jury in Brussels in early December at a live final, where the four overall winners will be chosen. The €200k will be split equally between the four winners.

“The Vodafone Foundation is keen to help as many people as possible benefit from new technologies,” says Vodafone Foundation director, Andrew Dunnett. “The Smart Accessibility Awards will help developers create apps that can really make a difference to people’s lives – we are thrilled to be able to support such an important initiative.”

The competition is open now, and the deadline for entries is 15 October. You can get all the entry details here.