Menu
What we know is that people with disability have been fundamental to some of the world’s greatest technological innovations, and this is only just the beginning.
This November, you’re invited to join Remarkable, made possible by Cerebral Palsy Alliance for their Global Technology Summit in San Francisco, hosted by Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, to connect, celebrate and grow the emerging Disability Tech ecosystem!
Over the course of this 2-day Summit, we will connect innovators and entrepreneurs with resources; corporate innovators with start-up companies and accessible technology for their next generation of products.
Together we will build and execute carefully designed roadmaps for bringing new accessible technologies to the market that: Challenge barriers; leverage new advances in computer science; and embrace universal design to significantly improve the lives of people with disabilities around the globe.
Founder and Executive Chairman of Sorenson Impact Group
A world-renowned entrepreneur, business leader, and societal innovator, Jim was raised in a family of entrepreneurs. In 2002, after a decade of development and tens of millions of dollars in investment, the company he had built — Sorenson Media — was primed for commercial success just as the dot com bubble burst and halted the markets. Jim found himself leading a company that had a monthly burn rate of $1 million and whose market demand had all but evaporated. Jim went back to the drawing board and in collaboration with a hearing-impaired family member realized that they could transition the company’s products to enhance communication for the deaf and hard of hearing. Sorenson Media was well positioned to offer a better service than major telecommunications companies resulting in the successful turnaround of the company (later spun off as Sorenson Communications) while also improving the quality of life for millions of deaf people. That company went on to be the largest private equity transaction in the state of Utah. On top of that, the company was estimated to have increased employment opportunities for the hearing impaired population by approximately four times. Jim was inspired by this company’s ability to not only make a very positive impact on an often underserved population but also operate with an effective business model and profit that ensured ongoing sustainability. He was intrigued with the idea of finding market solutions to meet the needs of underserved communities and since then he has established the Sorenson Impact Foundation, which invests in scalable, innovative social entrepreneurs, as well as the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah, which is a “think and do tank” focused on social impact and policy.
Founder Enabled Play
Alex Dunn leads the product team at Voicify and is the founder of Enabled Play. He’s also a Microsoft MVP, PubConf Champion, Bixby Premier Developer, and AWS Alexa SME. His background in accessibility, application development, and conversational AI has leaned into enabling applications to do more for businesses and consumers using scalable architectures and design, distributed services, cloud infrastructure, and innovative edge technologies. Alex does his best to remain platform agnostic in his practices and development with specialties in C#, Kotlin, and TypeScript while building for cross-platform compatibility. You might find him co-organizing the Boston Mobile C# Meetup with Microsoft, speaking at all sorts of conferences and events around the world, streaming on Twitch, and on Pluralsight.
Ainsworth Chair of Technology and Innovation, The University of Sydney
Professor Alistair McEwan is the Ainsworth Chair of Technology and Innovation at Cerebral Palsy Alliance and University of Sydney, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. He is the Theme Leader for Biomedical Devices and Instrumentation and helps lead the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Innovative Bioengineering. His research focuses on harnessing advancing technology and innovation to accelerate the search for new and improved treatments and interventions for childhood disabilities and illnesses.
Founder, Cognixion, the Assisted Reality company (AR+BCI)
Andreas is the Founder & CEO of Cognixion, the Assisted Reality company based in Santa Barbara, California and Toronto, Ontario.
Cognixion ONE is a brain-computer interface that is integrated with an augmented reality display. It has wide ranging implications as foundational technology for a future metaverse where our mind and body are immersed into the user experience.
The primary focus at Cognixion is ensuring that the future of AR is universally accessible with the help of biological sensors and intuitive user interfaces and is designed to assist millions of people with complex disabilities using their face, eyes and now brain as a direct control interface for mobile and AR, and is addressing the needs of a half billion people worldwide with physical and communication challenges.
Disability Awareness Consultant. Chief Disability Officer at Bump'n
Andrew Gurza is an award winning Disability Awareness Consultant and the Chief Disability Officer and Co-founder of Bump’n, a sex toy company for and by disabled people. Andrew uses they/he pronouns and identifies proudly as disabled. Their work has been featured on BBC, CBC, Daily Xtra, Gay Times UK, Huffington Post, The Advocate, Everyday Feminism, Mashable, Out.com, and several anthologies. He was the subject of an award winning National Film Board of Canada Documentary “Picture This”. Andrew has guested on a number of podcasts including Dan Savage’s Savage Love and Cameron Esposito’s Queery. He has spoken all over the world on sex, disability and what it means to be a Queer Cripple. He is also the host of Disability After Dark: The Podcast Shining a Bright Light on Disability Stories which won a Canadian Podcast Award in 2021, was a Queerty Award nominee, and was chosen as an Honoree at the 2020 Webby Awards. The show is available on all platforms. Andrew is also the creator of the viral hashtag #DisabledPeopleAreHot.
Global Disability Innovation Hub, Kenya Representative & Director of Innovate Now (Africa's 1st Assistive Technology Accelerator)
Bernard is a purpose-driven Startup innovation and development professional. Passionate about being a success catalyst and bridge for venture founders using the power of technology and entrepreneurship to change the world. His experience spans more than 8 years working across diverse technology and entrepreneurship development fields with partners and organizations across Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Bernard leads Global Disability Innovation Hub’s Innovate Now, Africa’s 1st Assistive Technology Accelerator based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is also a co-founder of the Inclusive Innovation Network (+N).
Academic Director - Global Disability Innovation Hub
As Aacademic Director of the Global Disability Innovation Hub, Cathy is pioneering the Disability Interaction framework to help accelerate disability innovation for a fairer world. This work spans the domains of human-computer interaction, accessibility and assistive technology and policy. Cathy’s research portfolio includes the development of new prosthetics for both the UK and lower income countries; the use of the Internet of Things to automate the creation of city-level accessibility maps for wheelchair users in Delhi and London; and the development of inclusive innovation methods. All of Cathy’s work has an ethos of co-development.
Founder & CEO of SCOUT Space Inc.
Eric Ingram was born in Alexandria VA into a lower-middle class blue-collar family. From birth, he was diagnosed with a rare disorder called Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome that causes permanent tightening in things such as the skin and muscles. This disorder has caused him to use a wheelchair for the majority of his life. Naturally, this came with many physical barriers and medical challenges to overcome, but he only used them as motivation. Eric is determined to break the disability stigma and continue to show people that your disability does not limit you, but actually makes you stronger. With motivation, resilience, and goals you can leverage your uniqueness to propel your career and personal life.
CEO Equivalent Design
Heather is the Founder of Equivalent Design, the leading global accessible graphics technology firm for advancing disability inclusion and equality. Her more than 20 years of leadership experience driving accessible design was ignited by challenges she experienced having motor and vision disabilities.
Founder and CEO Hiki
Jamil is the founder and CEO of Hiki. Prior to starting Hiki he led the real estate team at Bungalow – helping to build the largest co-living operator in the world. He began his career in banking at JPMorgan, managing the assets of large endowments and foundations. After JPMorgan he helped launch Blackstone’s first retail focused alternative investment platform. Jamil received a BA from Pomona College and still has dreams of returning west one day. He is passionate about leveraging technology to enable underserved communities to lead more fulfilling and equitable lives. When he isn’t working on Hiki, you can usually find him tinkering on old motorcycles or playing golf with his old man.
President, J Kaufman Consulting
Jonathan was born with Cerebral Palsy which has had a profound impact on his personal, academic and professional life. A former Policy Advisor to the White House on Diversity and Disability, he continues the work through J Kaufman Consulting which builds on his background as an engaging professional speaker, anthropologist, psychotherapist, executive coach and policy architect where he provide strategy work in a variety of capacities from Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, government agencies to non for profits helping them articulate new strategies to enhance their organizational goals. He also is a Forbes contributor who focuses on the Disability Economy.
Founder of Cerebral Palsy Strong & Digital Engagement Manager at CPARF
Katy Gaastra brings over a decade of community engagement experience as founder of Cerebral Palsy Strong, a fast-growing community organization by and for young adults with CP. She believes in the importance of using lived experience and collective storytelling to fuel social change and a sense of belonging. Leading up to CPStrong’s first community-led event in 2019, Katy was featured in the LA Times, OC Register, as well as a book/podcast about women in the outdoors called She Explores.
President, RAMPD | Recording Artist | GRAMMY Board
Lachi is an American recording artist, composer, writer and producer. Based in New York City, Lachi is best known for her disability and diversity inclusion activism within the music and entertainment industry. With tens of millions of online streams, Lachi’s music has debuted on national charts, aired on TV, radio and film, and has been featured/mentioned in The New York Times, Oprah Radio, NPR and HuffPost to name a few.
Chief Possibility Officer, Global Center of Possibility
Minnie has been leading and innovating as a social entrepreneur in accessibility for over 25 years, including establishing and leading Be. Lab (formerly Be. Accessible) for the past 10 years. In 2019, Minnie established the Global Centre of Possibility @ AUT; with its unique emphasis on Possibility design and innovation as the key to future social transformation, this is the next chapter in her pioneering story. Minnie has been awarded a New Zealand Order of Merit, the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award, the Westpac Women of Influence Diversity award, the Zonta women’s award, and was placed as a top 10 finalist for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.
Director Remarkable US
Molly is the Director of Remarkable US and the founder of Include LLC. Both organizations that help businesses building products that support people with disabilities as well as disabled entrepreneurs to succeed. Molly is a marketing executive, teacher, and disability advocate based in Boston. Her first foray into tech was serving as the Founder and CEO of BrightLoop, an EdTech platform that helped teachers individualize learning. She took the organization through a number of accelerators including Y Combinator and Mass Challenge.
More recently she has served in senior-level marketing roles with one of the largest media organizations in education and for a health and wellness startup. Before she jumped into tech, she was an educator with a focus on supporting students with learning disabilities. In her free time, she has volunteered for 22 years at Camp Jabberwocky, an overnight camp for children and adults with disabilities on Martha’s Vineyard. She holds a Masters in Education from Harvard and a BA from Boston College.
Technical Program Manager at Google Research
Pan Pan is one of the leads on Google’s Project Relate. For millions of people, being able to speak and be understood can be difficult as a result of conditions that can impact speech, including stroke, ALS, Cerebral Palsy, traumatic brain injury, or Parkinson’s disease. In this talk, we will introduce a new Android app called Project Relate, which aims to help people with speech impairments communicate more easily with others and interact with Google Assistant. She earned a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard University, before joining Google to help catalyze research for building health and accessibility products.
Founder & CEO Spinex
Parag has more than 15 years of research and product development experience, in both academia and startups, and is interested in translating basic science into products that improve the quality of lives of individuals. He completed his basic BioEngineering training from Mumbai, India before pursuing his masters and PhD from University of California, Los Angeles Specializing in NeuroEngineering. Parag has co-authored over 65 scientific papers and holds over 8 patents.
Since 2019, Parag has been leading SpineX Inc. a clinical stage bioelectric MedTech company developing noninvasive tools for patients with unmet clinical needs.
CEO, ATSCALE, THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Pascal brings to this partnership twenty years of leadership experience in global public health at country, regional and global levels. He has straddled the private and public sectors, embracing market-shaping strategies linked to deep systems transformations. Most recently, Pascal was the Director of Country Support at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He led Gavi’s largest team, responsible for country investments to drive greater coverage and equity in access to vaccines. In 2020/2021, Pascal also directed the Covid-19 vaccine delivery efforts across all Gavi-eligible countries under the auspices of the Covax Facility.
Founder Remarkable
Pete is the Founder of Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s Tech Accelerator – Remarkable, whose mission is to harness tech and innovation for inclusion. Pete aims to create a positive global impact on disability inclusion and is a catalytic leader who creates sustainable social change. So far he has managed to create Australia’s first disability technology accelerator for startups developing technology that enable people with disability to overcome barriers they face each and every day. He has more 15 years experience in the disability sector across a range of roles. Peter started his career as a landscape architect and sees the potential for design and innovation to create positive systemic change.
CEO, T-Hub, Ex-Global Director (Microsoft For Start-Ups)
Ravi is a pioneer in the Venture Catalyst/Startup Accelerator space. He has worked for the last decade in building institutions for supporting entrepreneurship globally. He has advised corporations and governments in implementing startup and innovation programs. He has also pioneered a Digital Transformation Program that leverages innovative and disruptive technologies from startups globally.
Founder and Managing partner at Enable Ventures
Regina “Gina” Kline is an entrepreneur, civil rights lawyer, and thought leader dedicated to building the future of work by advancing the rights and interests of people with disabilities as innovators, workers, business owners, and consumers. As Founder and Managing Partner of Enable Ventures and Founder of SmartJob, Gina is singularly focused as a leader on closing the disability wealth gap through impact investment.
Gina has worked to challenge and end some of the most exploitative practices in the country affecting workers with disabilities, and has built meaningful, long-term relationships throughout the disability community.
Director of Brain Computer Interfaces at Blackrock NeuroTech
Rob earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he developed electrodes for in vivo neurotransmitter sensing. Following his Ph.D. studies, Rob began his work at Blackrock Neurotech where he has directed a team of engineers in the design and development of implantable, wireless neural interface electronics and novel silicon electrodes for recording and stimulation in the brain. His deep technical understanding and solution-oriented engineering approach have put him at the core of our clinical translation activities. Rob’s enthusiasm and commitment know no bounds, whether it is showing his support for the environment by braving US highways with an electric vehicle or his team spirit by playing soccer when really he would prefer football tackling us all.
President ATS
Varun is the President of Access To Success, an organization for MBA students with disabilities with the dual mandates of promoting accessible technologies and promoting future business leaders with disabilities to MBA students with disabilities in the business sector. “… if you see a need for change, go for it.” In 2016, Varun Chandak saw a need. With his peers, he founded Access To Success, a catalyst for creating the future leaders of business within the disability community. Varun will speak on the topics of accessibility, inclusive design and how to create positive change for people with disabilities.
Venue: La Mar Restaurant – Cebiche Lounge | Pier 1 1/2 The Embarcadero N, San Francisco
18:00 – 21:00 Welcome Event with special guest
Venue: Exploratorium – Fisher Bay Observatory and Terrace | Pier 15 Embarcadero at, Green St, San Francisco
08:00 – 08:45 Connectivity and collaboration (networking opportunity)
08:45 – 09:00 Global Tech Summit Welcome
9:00 – 10:15 Ignite Talks: My Disability: The World As It Is & How It Could Be
Lachi | Katie Gaastra | Andrew Gurza
10:15 – 10:45 Morning Tea Break
10:45 – 11:15 Provocation: The Disability Economy with Jonathan Kaufman
11:15 – 11:45 Provocation with Minnie Baragwanath
11:45 – 12:30 Panel – The Global State of Disability Tech
Cathy Holloway | Ravi Narayanan | Bernard Chira | Varun Chandak | Pascal Bijleveld | Pete Horsley
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 – 13:45 Disability Tech Talk: Project Relate with Pan-Pan Jiang
13:45 – 14:00 Disability Tech Talk: Blackrock Neurotech with Rob Franklin
14:00 – 14:15 Disability Tech Talk: Cognixion with Andreas Forsland
14:15 – 15:00 Breakout Conversations
15:00 – 15:30 Fireside Chat with Jim Sorenson and Regina Kline
15:30 – 16:00 Afternoon Tea Break
16:00 – 17:00 Remarkable Shark Tank
17:00 – 18:15 Big Announcement
18:15 – 22:00 Exploratorium After Dark
Venue: Exploratorium – Fisher Bay Observatory and Terrace | Pier 15 Embarcadero at, Green St, San Francisco
08:00 – 08:15 Connectivity and collaboration (networking opportunity)
08:15 – 08:30 Day 1 Wrap Up & Intro To Day 2
08:30 – 08:50 Fireside Chat
08:50 – 09:10 What Making Space Accessible Can Teach Us About Making Anything Accessible with Eric Ingram
09:10 – 09:30 Inclusive Play: How Assistive Tech Supports the Whole Person with Alistair McEwan
09:30 – 10:00 Morning Tea Break
10:00 – 11:30 Implementation Workshop: How Will You Bring Your Learnings Back Home
11:30 – 12:00 The Future Of Work Must Be Accessible with Regina Kline
12:00 Closing + Announcement of World CP Day Winners
When you arrive in the United States, you must show valid travel documents as part of the entry process. The documents you need and whether your passport needs to be valid for six months after your travel dates depend on the country you are arriving from and your citizenship or status.
Foreign nationals must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before entering the U.S.
Travel arrangements to and from San Francisco is the guest’s responsibility, and need to ensure arrival time is prior to the first formality of 18.00 on Wednesday 2 November, 2022. It is guest’s responsibility to seek appropriate travel insurances and travel visas.
Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our guests.
As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting you, we have introduced a range of enhanced measures across our event to safeguard the wellbeing of our guests and staff. These include:
Summit requirements
We ask that all guests complete a Rapid Antigen Test before attending the event and ensure a negative result prior to attending the event. Please stay home if you are feeling sick.
All guests will be asked to follow venue entry requirements. This may include check-in via a QR code on arrival. And the wearing of face masks in public areas. We also strongly recommend that guests are up to date with vaccinations and boosters.
These include enhanced cleaning programs at the venue, disinfection of all high-touch areas and ample access to hand sanitiser and face masks throughout the event.
These are unprecedented times for communities around the world, it is important that every effort is being taken to protect the safety and wellbeing of our community. We thank you for your understanding.
All policies are aligned with and informed by the San Francisco COVID-19 Requirements. We recommend that you stay up to date with local health and safety requirements for the city of San Francisco and state of California.
We’d like to thank all our event sponsors for their generous contribution and support in making this event a great success.
Should you have any questions related to the Remarkable Technology Summit San Francisco, please contact events@cererbalpalsy.org.au or complete the webform below.
At all Remarkable events we provide an opportunity prior to the beginning and throughout for participants to request accessibility adjustments. At a minimum Remarkable will be providing: Sign interpretation, Screen reader accessible documents and Transcripts of video recorded sessions.
Other accommodations can be requested outside of those listed above. We encourage all participants to contact Remarkable to discuss what requirements are needed to ensure an equal experience for all participants.
Remarkable is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone and applying the relevant accessibility standards.
Our site is designed using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of our site. Please let us know if you encounter any problems by submitting a contact form.
©2022 Remarkable. All rights Reserved