GDI Hub Research and Innovation Initiatives
AT2030
Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and led by the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), AT2030 brings together global experts, international organisations, local delivery partners, multidisciplinary sectors and a new collaborative approach to drive change. AT2030 tests ‘what works’ to improve access to life-changing Assistive Technology (AT) for all; investing £20m over 5 years to support solutions to scale. The AT2030 consortium brings together partners who haven’t traditionally focused on AT, with experts, innovators and AT users to experiment with new ideas and thinking.
AT Impact Fund
The AT Impact Fund was established to better enable frontier technology solutions to reach people with disabilities in Africa, and to test business models that are most likely to succeed. Globally, there are a lot of very strong, clinically validated AT solutions that have the potential to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. But they often lack a business and distribution model that could scale sustainably in African markets, leaving at least 135 million Africans without access to much-needed AT solutions. Our team has paved the way for disability innovation globally, built business models for the distributed energy market, accelerated FinTech and EdTech startups across Africa, and now we’re applying all these learnings and expertise to the world of Assistive Tech.
Innovation Action
Innovation Action is a collaborative initiative, launched by a consortium of partners brought together by innovation catalyst Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), led by UCL Engineering and funded by UK Aid through the Frontier Technologies Hub and AT2030 programmes Our purpose is to bring people together to innovate on global challenges. We provide a space to enable people from all over the world to identify challenges and collaborate on solutions to help address some of the world’s most pressing problems.
AT Innovate Now
Innovate Now is part of the Spark Innovation Sub-program of AT2030-Life Changing Assistive Technology for All, a £20 million UK aid funded programme led by the Global Disability Innovation Hub. We are Africa’s first Assistive Technology Accelerator and host startups for 3-6 months. Our free accelerator model combines mentorship, workshops, guest lectures and hands on disability expertise to help our startups reach product-market fit and become investable and scale-ready. We use our innovative active learning model and Live labs to provide the best possible support for founders by helping them overcome barriers to scaling AT.
Disabled Leaders Network
The Disabled Leaders Network brings together exceptional disabled leaders to engage, build a community and share learnings. The network provides a platform for Snowdon Trust alumni to build relationships with other exceptional disabled leaders, creating a hub of information, knowledge and support, to build capacity and drive achievement beyond academia and into the workplace.
