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Recipe for a Remarkable Design-athon!

List of ingredients:

Prep 1 year | 4 weeks | +100 servings | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • 3 problem statements
  • 3 incredible problem statement champions
  • 17 amazing user-testers
  • 6 countries
  • 10 mentors
  • 34 teams
  • 139 participants 
  • and a whole lot of excitement!

Recipe:

  1. Preheat the Sprintbase platform in preparation for an influx of insights and brilliant ideas. 
  2. Welcome your 100+ participants to the program.
  3. Let the magic happen!

Alrighty, so perhaps there was a little more that went into our Design-athon but it is true that the excitement of all involved is what brings the magic of this experience to life.

This year we welcomed over 120 participants from across the globe for our online challenge where they took on 1 of 3 challenges and gained first-hand experience of how good design enables, rather than disables, human potential.

The challenges included:

1. Accessible Smart Home Technology

How might we help people with limited mobility and speech to develop independence and autonomy in their homes through low-cost smart home technology? 

This challenge was developed in partnership with some of our clients and managers from Cerebral Palsy Alliances houses. It asked participants to consider the many smart home solutions on the market, and the fact that many require voice or fine dexterity to control a smartphone to use them. So, how could we use existing or new technology that considers the needs of people living with disability?

2. Inclusive Future of Work

How might we make self-employment radically more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities? 

In speaking with SmartJob, one of the +N partners in the US, the disability wealth gap continues to challenge meaningful inclusion, but can partly be solved through people with disability having meaningful employment. This prompted participants to question how to break down barriers to self-employment and empower people with disabilities who want to be self-employed?

3. Active and Healthy Ageing

How might we support and encourage older people with disability to live active and healthy lives to maintain their physical and mental wellbeing as they age?

icare – our principal partner – provides people seriously injured on a NSW road or workplace through the Lifetime Care Scheme and Workers Care Program. The need to think about remaining healthy and active as we age, is just as important for all of us with disability. Participants were encouraged to ask why there is a range of available technologies, many of which focus on physical fitness, or aging/aging in place, but not one solution that addresses the range of issues around staying physically and mentally well as people age, and none that are necessarily specific and appropriate/suitable, accessible and affordable for people with a disability?

At the end of our immersive, online, four-week program our judges had the task of selecting one winning team from each challenge. Although it was a tough decision, we are honoured to present the winners…

  • Accessible Smart Home Technology: Team Beyond Boundaries (Australia)
  • Inclusive Future of Work: Team Samaavesh (India)
  • Active and Healthy Ageing: Team Sensor Guided Living (Australia)
 

Each and every one of the teams in this year’s challenge achieved remarkable results! We would like to thank Sprintbase and our Problem Statement Champions, Liza MacLean, Dwayne Fernandes, and Angelo & Andrew Rotondo for their amazing work throughout the program. The program would also not have been the success that it was without the support of our mentors and user testers who joined us for this journey!

On behalf of Cerebral Palsy Alliance, we also extend our thanks to the support of our principal partner icare NSW and we would like to give them another special shoutout for connecting us with amazing user-testers! Finally, a big thanks to our additional partners, Telstra, Microsoft and Vivcourt.

We can’t wait to watch this year’s teams continue to bring their solutions to life!