Author: Pete Horsley

Yes, it’s Christmas again and no I’m not prepared for it. But it is one of my favourite times of the year. Despite the hype and the constant pull towards accruing more stuff, there is also a spirit of generosity, of spending time with those we love (and those we tolerate!) and it is a marker in the year – signifying the end of one thing and the beginning of another.

Each year I drive up to Brisbane with my family to see our relatives and there is something about the 10+ hour drive that I find cathartic – driving between the commanding sandstone walls of the highway heading north out of Sydney that signifies tying a bow around the year and saying, “That’s enough”. It gives time for reflection and for recalibration.

When it comes to Remarkable, we’ve seen some extraordinary successes and some temporary setbacks this year. Here are the notable features of the year.

Overall, we’re seeing extraordinary growth across multiple metrics for the 25 startups we have supported – customer reach up 418%, 44% increase in staff and more than $23M in capital raised. Our startups now see more than 32,000 customers!

We’ve seen 3 startups close investment rounds this year (Umps Health, Xceptional and loop+) and Home Care Heroes have just opened their first round. Xceptional debuted an Australian-first funding instrument – BOLD (Beneficial Outcomes Linked Debt) which could be a game-changer for startups in the social impact space. It means that cash repayments are based on a share of revenue and also that the loan balance can be reduced both by cash repayments and successful achievement of positive outcomes (placing people with autism in jobs). Great work Xceptional and Impact Investment Group!

We did get some recognition for being “The Most Disruptive Innovation Project of 2019” by GiveEasy as part of the Innovation for Impact Awards. And we also nominated cohort #4 co-founder of PolySpine, Riley Saban who won the Young Leader of the Year at the Third Sector Awards. Riley who is just 16 has plans beyond PolySpine to change the face of assistive technologies.

We always say it takes a village to raise a startup and our village got a little bit bigger this year – we extended our incredible partner network – adding to icare, Telstra and Macquarie, we introduced Microsoft as a new partner in 2019. While we say farewell to Macquarie, we’re excited for what 2020 will bring. Our village also got a bit bigger with 3 new EIR’s – people filling the big shoes of Ben Reid – we had Alan Jones, Addy Chu and Jacob Muller, joining Margaret and I. We loved working with these talented individuals as they coached our startups.

It continues to challenge us when we see opportunities to take what we’ve learned to other larger markets and we did think that 2019 was going to be the year for that. We submitted an application for Macquarie 50th Anniversary Award – a global competition to fund 5 organisations to the tune of $10 million each to expand their impact. As you know we were selected in the Top 12 from around 1,000 applications worldwide but were not successful in our bid. It was an extraordinary amount of work from a lot of people and with support from many of you – thank you again.

While disappointing, we now can refer to ourselves as one of the top 12 most innovative social impact programs in the world (lemons to lemonade baby!) and while this is a temporary setback, we no longer see it as an opportunity, but an imperative to grow the impact of technology overcoming barriers to inclusion.

So in 2020, we will be exploring a global alliance of disability tech startup accelerators – from partners in 6 other countries – India, Canada, New Zealand, England, Kenya and China. As well as exploring opportunities in the US market. We see the opportunity to expand our impact faster when we work together.

And we want to work on what happens post-accelerator – for us, our work isn’t done until startups are no longer startups and they’re having sustainable impact. So post-accelerator program support will be a critical path of development for Remarkable in 2020.

Until then we wish you and those you care about a safe, joyful and hopeful Christmas and New Year’s. See you in the future, but for now, just know that you are remarkable!

Pete Horsley, Founder

At the recent icare Conference in Sydney, Pete Horsley, Founder Remarkable, spoke about the opportunity for positively impacting the lives of those with disability and acquired injury has never been greater. Where could this intersection of disability and technology go? Here is his message…

A MESSAGE TO FUTURE FOUNDERS

The 3 Big Trends Influencing Assistive Technology

Advancements in technology for people with a disability are lagging. Lots of assistive technology remains mono-functional, expensive and clunky. Remarkable’s mission is to see elegant and affordable technology solutions in the hands of people with a disability, as a way to overcome barriers to inclusion. For us to realise that mission, we need to consider what is happening more broadly in the tech world. We see 3 trends influencing tech development, that disability tech will need to adopt in order to bring its much-anticipated growth.

Technology experts are in agreement that we are now into the fourth industrial revolution. First steam, then electricity and mass production, more recently came the third revolution of digital technology. Now the fourth revolution builds on the third and connects the billions of people and technologies with each other in the cloud and simulates human intelligence processes using computers. This. Is. Big.

Right now, we are sitting at the edge of an incredible new era in technology. The opportunity for positively impacting the lives of those with disability and acquired injury has never been greater. Where could this intersection of disability and technology go?

Already we are seeing the ways that robotics, wearables, sensor technologies and AI can aid people with disabilities to overcome barriers and become a powerful driver of inclusion. Add to this the coming global rise of an aging population and there is a market opportunity that technologists, entrepreneurs and engineers would be crazy to ignore.

Like it or not, if you’re ignoring these trends, you will be left behind. These are the 3 Big Trends Influencing Assistive Technology:

1. Expectation Transfer

Each day we are introduced to new levels of user experience through technology. The virtuous cycle creates rising customer expectations of how we anticipate interacting with a company. Typically this has included things like good customer service and a perception of value for money. Increasingly though, these expectations are being inflated through our interactions with companies like Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. Now we expect companies to personalise their support for us, provide proactive service and “one-click” functionality.

Application: As founders, start thinking about one way you could provide personalised, or proactive service and experience through your product or service.

2. Big Data and AI

Humans are fascinating – we often find ourselves in constant states of contradiction when it comes to data, disclosure and customer experience. Customers expect personalised experiences, but equally, are completely sceptical about whether that data will be kept secure or if it will be used for other purposes for the benefit of the company. Salesforce in their 2^nd edition of the State of the Connected Customer, talked about the importance of trust when it comes to handling a customers data, but do also state that “79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves in exchange for contextualized interactions in which they’re immediately known and understood.” So we need to be transparent around why we’re collecting data, and demonstrate how it enhances the customer experience. Big Data and its use in AI is not just emerging, but it is fast becoming an essential ingredient in delivering the personalised approach customers are expecting.

Application: How can you think about designing products and services that are provided “just in time” – proactively understanding the needs of your customers. It might not form part of your first product, but how can you build this into your development roadmap?

3. Seamless Integration

Denise Stephens is the Founder of Enabled by Design in the UK and started her journey into assistive tech after she was diagnosed with MS and was dismayed with how quickly her home started looking more and more “hospital-like” with the introduction of various aids and equipment she needed for managing her MS. She desperately wanted to see beautifully designed products that could be usable by a wide range of people, helping to remove some of the stigma of disability.

We’re fast approaching a time when the integration of technology built seamlessly into our lives is more possible than ever before.

Earlier this year we hosted a talk from esteemed Harvard Professor Leigh Hochberg on the research for BrainGate – a small array of micro-electrodes about the size of your “pinky” fingernail that is implanted into the brain to pick up neural signals and translates thought into signals to control robotic arms or communication devices. While the first versions included wires being attached to the head, newer versions are wireless and you may not know this incredible technology is allowing someone this level of autonomy and independence.

What does this mean for founders? Some of the best technology solutions aren’t obvious, they are seamlessly integrated into the person’s life, other enterprise technology can be housed on smartphones or built into development from the beginning.

Application: How can you think about the seamless integration of your product or service into the person’s life? Should you consider physical integration? Should you consider partnering with another startup to create greater value together, rather than just one piece of the problem? Or is this thinking about a more universally-designed product that meets the needs of many including people with disabilities?

What now?

There are a growing number of people all over the world who are rallying to create the next wave of truly transformative assistive technology. Never has there been a better time for this – the cost of production of tech is down and expectations for what tech can do are high and getting higher. Soon we will see seamlessly integrated technology and maybe, just maybe our hope for a more inclusive world will be realised.

Remarkable is a technology accelerator that supports early-stage, growth-driven companies looking to help people with disabilities overcome barriers to inclusion. Remarkable offers education, mentorship, and startup capital. Remarkable is on the lookout for the next crop of founders who are wanting to have a disruptive influence on the future of inclusive technologies.

For the last 3 years at Remarkable we have seen that technology truly can transform the lives of people with disability. We have seen lower cost robotics, wearable sensors, customised 3D manufacturing, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, that have helped to overcome issues of physical access, provided workplace aids, and has allowed someone with impairment to have autonomy and independence in ways they’ve never experienced before. And now Remarkable is looking to replicate its accelerator model overseas – first the US, then Asia. Setting up global chapters isn’t new – lots of accelerators are doing it – however for us this mission is an imperative. We believe that an inclusive future could be closer than we all think. But along with this excitement, there is a deep fear that things could get worse before they get better so we need to expand our influence as a matter of urgency.

Technology is built into almost every part of everyday life. Work, school, transport, cooking and entertainment – it enables our communication, it aids our health and provides convenience. But what if the very thing that we are becoming more and more reliant on was out of reach, or worse, that it became a barrier to our full participation in the world? That is the reality for many people with disabilities.

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index in 2018 showed a significant gap in digital inclusion between people with disability and other Australians. In fact, the overall digital inclusion gap widened throughout 2017/18. This was mostly due to lack of progress around affordability and digital ability. It is imperative that we get this right.

This divide isn’t just happening locally. The global acknowledgement that the digital divide exists for people with disabilities is well documented. The UN calls people with disability the largest minority in the world. And yet, it is largely ignored as a market, with only 5-10% of the population who need assistive technology (around 1 in 10) having access to the assistive devices they need. The digital divide is leaving more and more people with disabilities behind, creating more barriers to inclusion. This shouldn’t be the case.

It is this reality that drives Remarkable to affect change globally in innovative technology for inclusion.

As with any systems change, there is no silver bullet. Others have written about the complexity involved in reaching the millions of people who need assistive technology. There is no denying that it takes more than just creating interesting technologies. But taking inspiration from colleagues at our Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, who have collaborated globally with the best researchers, they have managed to see a reduction in the incidence of cerebral palsy in Australia from one in 400 births, to one in 700 births within the last 10 years! There are three things they’ve done that have influenced change that we can learn from:

1. Courage.
2. Tribe.
3. Joined-up Thinking.

Courage

Seeing cure(s) and/or prevention for cerebral palsy is the ultimate goal of our research institute. It is not an easy goal. Having the will and determination to take on something of this magnitude, takes courage. Remarkable’s goal is to create an inclusive future through innovation in technology. We’ve begun to validate the problems with technology for people with disability in developed parts of the world, and also in developing parts of the world. And while the spectrum of work is broad and complex, there are some common threads – a small handful of large companies controlling the market, overpriced equipment, mono-functional use, difficult referral systems, and many more.

We don’t take on this challenge lightly. There will be obstacles. But the potential impact is worth it. The opportunities for technology to create a more inclusive world is well known. But progress so far has been slow.

The second key ingredient to change is linked to the first – the right tribe.

Tribe

Our research institute knew that they weren’t going to prevent cerebral palsy alone. They needed to find the best and brightest research minds and to bring their thinking, and to be aligned around a common strategy.

The same applies for innovation in technology.

In May 2018, Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA) hosted our first Technology and Innovation for Cerebral Palsy Summit in San Francisco – an invite-only gathering of around 80 technologists from industry, universities and, most importantly, individuals with disability and their families. We ended the two-day summit by posing the question: How we can lift the level of excellence for everyone in the room? The consensus was strongly around supporting commercialisation of ideas and funding for early-stage startups. This is the beginning of our global tribe.

Furthermore, user centred design places the user – the customer – at the heart of the design process, ensuring their needs are addressed. The earliest idea of Remarkable grew out of a two-day event called Enabled by Design-athon that was developed in the UK by Denise Stephens. As someone living with a disability, she was perplexed at how little assistive devices had changed in decades. So she sought to bring together people with disability, along with designers, makers and creators to develop products that met the users needs. In 2014 CPA co-hosted a 2-day Design-athon in Australia with Denise. It was some of the inspiration we needed to develop the idea of Remarkable. People with disability are at the centre of the problems the startups are solving.

Joined-up Thinking

When an Australian researcher discovered that cooling babies’ brains could reduce the severity of lesions on an unborn child’s brain, the next challenge was to educate professionals on the intervention. It’s not enough to develop a solution – the next challenge is to disseminate it. Cooling babies’ brains is one of the factors that has led to a reduction of the number of babies born with more complex forms of cerebral palsy in Australia in recent years.

It is not enough to have new technology released into the world. You need a pipeline of innovation. You need investment into startups. You need customers to adopt and trial technologies. You need markets to exist to buy the products. You need referrers. You need coordinated health systems. You need good government. You need big technology companies creating enterprise solutions. This is joined-up thinking.

It is not enough to just produce technologies, we’ve begun to create an ecosystem of customers, innovators, investors, mentors and enterprise and joining these dots to create joined-up thinking.

For CPA, taking Remarkable onto the global stage is driven more by the imperative than the opportunity.

It is not enough that we do this in Sydney Australia. We are at a particular point in time where the potential of the technology is there to overcome barriers to full inclusion. So help us take courage, join our tribe and be part of the joined-up thinking we need to get this life-changing technology into the hands of the millions of people with disability who could benefit from it.

References

1. Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology
2. Disability and Bridging the Digital Divide
3. Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE)
4. Remarkable is a division of Cerebral Palsy Alliance
5. Promise of Technology for Persons with Disabilities