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Google Inc. has proved on so many occasions that it can handle the competition in various industries – changing the face of web search engines and crushing the smartphone market – that it comes as no surprise that it wants to try an entirely new field.
Google.org, the company’s charitable branch, has pledged a $20 million grant to non-profit organizations who want to develop ideas that will help treat human impairment. For starters, the tech giant offered a $600,000 grant to Enable Community Foundation, a company which manufactures 3D printed prosthetics for children.
According to the foundation, the money will be used to improve the devices and technologies it has already created by gathering feedback from users and testers. At the same time, Enable Community Foundation is set on coordinating design challenges on a worldwide level.
Google has called their new initiative “The Google Impact Challenge,” adding in a blog post that it hopes that under this umbrella many nonprofits will join their disabilities program; together new solutions can be found in order to improve the lives of the disabled.
Second, Google has also partnered with World Wide Hearing by pledging them $500,000. This non-profit organization exists solely for making sure hearing aids reach more people who need them.
WWH activates especially in the name of the disabled people living in developing countries, where accessibility is very low. The grant will allow the organization to develop a smartphone-based kit that will help in the diagnosing and treatment of hearing loss.
Even after generously aiding these two major non-profits, Google has still got roughly $19 million that will be divided among various companies developing new technologies in the field.
In its announcement blog post, Google expressed its interest in always improving their products, which is why there is committed team always monitoring the accessibility of Google Tools. Moreover, the engineering teams inside the company are offered training so they can learn how to include accessibility principles in Google’s products and services.
Jacquelline Fuller, head of Google.org, said one of the branch’s purposes is to bring new accessibility to people with certain disabilities, so they don’t have to depend on expensive and uncomfortable devices.
Google has recently initiated some other charitable projects, such as purchasing in September Lift Labs, a start-up creating a better life people with tremors and Parkinson’s disease. So far, the company has designed utensils and kitchen devices that ease the process of eating.
Color-blind people were also thought of when Google’s accessibility engineering team created a new Chrome extension which enhances their online experience.
Image Source: Employee Benefit Adviser
