M-Enabling Forum at REHACARE 2018 in Düsseldorf

DÜSSELDORF (February 26, 2018) —

The first M-Enabling Forum in Germany will take place September 27, 2018, parallel to REHACARE in Düsseldorf. E.J.Krause & Associates (EJK) and the G3ict (the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICT, established with the support of the United Nations) organize this conference and showcase to advance awareness of new milestones for accessible technologies and environments.

EJK and G3ict launched the M-Enabling Summit in Washington DC over seven years ago to support the spread of accessible and assistive technology for seniors and users of all abilities. M-Enabling Summit has developed into the leading global conference for empowering accessible technologies and next-generation innovation for the disability community more than 600 conference attendees, 140 speakers and 58 sponsors and exhibitors in the 2017 edition. The M-Enabling Global-Briefing-Tour staged further events in San Francisco, Moscow, Sydney and Milan.

M-Enabling Forum Europe, taking place in Düsseldorf in 2018, will include panel discussions about rules and standards as well as case studies, showing how mobile technologies and assistive services enable independent living. Today, digital accessibility technologies provide alternative models of communications such as text-to-speech, voice recognition, and Artificial Intelligence applied to image recognition. As well, it allows interfaces with assistive devices allowing persons with disabilities and seniors to enjoy full access to e-books, web content, web services, or control their smart home environments including handling of all kinds of electronic devices and home appliances. M-Enabling Forum is a unique venue that brings together policy makers, standardization bodies, industry, banks and organizations representing various segments of persons with disabilities, including multi-disability advocacy organizations like the European Disability Forum. In the showcase area sponsors and exhibitors will demonstrate solutions, innovations and seek collaborations for future product developments.

Since the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is expected to be ready later this year, speakers from the European Commission are expected to present its main feature and implementation roadmap at the Forum. For more than 80 million persons with disabilities in Europe and an aging population, this act will trigger an era of greater inclusion in society and access to the job market. The EAA will present challenges for industry, but at the same time open an enormous market potential for all manufacturers and providers of accessible digital products and solutions.

REHACARE, organized by Messe Düsseldorf for 30 years, is the leading conference and exhibition for Independent Living in Europe with 39.000 visitors and 780 exhibitors in the recent 2017 edition.

EJK, G3ict and Messe Düsseldorf are pleased to hold REHACARE (September 26-29, 2018) and the M-Enabling Forum (September 27, 2018) in parallel.

“We are very excited to welcome the M-Enabling Forum to Düsseldorf during REHACARE 2018. With so many overlapping themes and target groups the two events are sure to complement each other well. There is really no better location and time for the Forum to make its debut in Germany,” said Joachim Schäfer, Managing Director Messe Düsseldorf.

“With the European Accessibility Act poised to accelerate the adoption of accessible digital products and services across Europe, the timing of the M-Enabling Forum at REHACARE could not be better,” said Axel Leblois, President of G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs. “ We very much look forward to facilitating a dynamic dialogue among European participants in the M-Enabling eco-system on the considerable emerging opportunities brought by the EAA for both industry and persons with disabilities.”

For more information and preliminary agenda, please visit the conference website.