With in-person conferences gradually making a return to the event circuit, we’re looking ahead to Naidex 2021.

This year’s Naidex will be taking place from the 15-16 September at Birmingham’s famous NEC arena, bringing together over 200 suppliers, 100 inspirational speakers, and a whole host of interactive features. Naidex has established itself as the UK’s core event for supporting independent living and improving mobility and accessibility for all – covering the most exciting innovations in healthtech, medtech and the future for digital and physical accessibility.

Accessibility and inclusion are key topics at the moment and areas that are so important for all areas of society. Particularly across the public sector, ensuring that all services are the most accessible they can be is key. Each and every person should be treated the same and have equal access to things in life, no matter what physical or neurologic issues they suffer from.

At Mantis, we’re lucky enough to work with clients that are pioneering the latest healthtech and medtech to genuinely make a difference to those most vulnerable in our society. From using applications and programmes to support vulnerable people across social care, to providing assistive technology to people with visual impairments or those suffering from common reading difficulties.

Our client AutonoMe combines edtech with one to one support to improve outcomes for vulnerable people across social care. Using digital solutions empowers those being cared for to monitor their own progress towards independence, as well as providing local authorities with digital data to make improvements and plan for the future.

On day one of Naidex at 11:45, you can hear thoughts and insights from AutonoMe Founder and CEO William Britton, who will be speaking about how he is combining his educational background, skillset and life experience to fix a problem he experienced first-hand during his time lecturing vulnerable students.

Assistive technology has been around for some time and while specific technology has been useful in day to day activities, few have proven to positively impact people’s lives for good. Our medtech client OrCam provides pioneering technology for people who are visually impaired, partially sighted or those who suffer from reading challenges such as dyslexia. OrCam is leading the way with innovation and has developed two devices to improve accessibility across these markets.

The OrCam MyEye Pro is the most advanced wearable AI device that reads all forms of printed and digital text and can recognise colours, faces, barcodes, and all forms of currency. The highly sophisticated orientation feature allows users to navigate daily life through the “what’s in front of me” gesture, allowing independence like never before.

Next up is the OrCam Read, a first-of-its-kind AI digital hand reader that reads entire pages of text through one simple click. Smart reading allows users to ask the device to “read the headlines” and “start reading” from a specific location. Be sure to visit stand L22 at Naidex where you can experience first-hand the power behind the technology and get your very own demonstration from the OrCam team who will be happy to help.

It’s set to be an action-packed two-day conference at this year’s Naidex, and it’s fantastic to see so many organisations rallying together with a combined mission of putting accessibility back on the national map and raising awareness of this vitally important initiative. We’ll be keeping an eye on other exciting announcements surrounding Naidex and look forward to covering the rest of the 2021 events calendar in the months ahead.