B·MINCOME, looking for the best way out of poverty

Publications Bank of innovations

B·MINCOME, looking for the best way out of poverty

Barcelona City Council

Foto: Barcelona City Council

B·MINCOME is a pilot project for the establishment of a municipal inclusion salary in the city of Barcelona, which is testing with one thousand vulnerable families in the ten most deprived Barcelona neighborhoods, the efficacy and efficiency of combining a stable financial help with active social-employment policies.

B·MINCOME is a project pilot to fight against poverty and inequality based in the development of an integral policy which combines a public passive policy (a Municipal Inclusive Support, a financial help that supplements the income of the selected people and families) with four active social-employment policies: a combined education and employment plan; actions for the encouragement of the socio-collaborative economy; grants for the rehabilitation of homes which may allow room rentals; and a program for participation in community networks.

B-Mincome

Kolumba, accessible e-mail for people with disability

Publications Bank of innovations

Kolumba, accessible e-mail for people with disability

Fundación Prodis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, KU Leuven, Ariadna SL

Foto: Zero Project

Simplified email interface that works on Gmail accounts and contains only four functions: new messages, inbox, sent messages and contacts. The system uses three functionalities that facilitate its use: SIMPLEXT, that simplifies complex texts and makes them easily intelligible; TEXT2PICTO, that transforms texts into pictograms; and TEXT2SPEECH, that reads the text aloud. The interface is available in Spanish and English.

Prodis Foundation has developed Kolumba with the aim of stimulating the incorporation of people with disabilities into the labor world. The Zero Project organization has awarded the project the prize for the best Innovative Practices 2018 in the area of accessibility.

Fundación Prodis

Therapeutic gardens for dementia or Alzheimer patients

Publications Bank of innovations

Therapeutic gardens for dementia or Alzheimer patients

Fontenuovo, Mati 1909, Generali Arredamenti

Foto: Mati 1909

In January 2016, the Fontenuovo residence opened a unit for Alzheimer’s patients that includes an innovative therapeutic garden designed by a multidisciplinary team that emphasizes the social value of the garden.

The design meets the requirements defined in the most recent scientific studies aimed at improving the health, behavior and quality of life of patients. Thus space is planned naturally, with inputs, outputs, paths, work and rest areas and well-defined points of reference that allow easy orientation and reduce the feeling of insecurity. The garden has five sensorial areas that contain more than thirty plant species and that allow the stimulation of the senses of the patients.

Other Italian institutions and companies are working on the design of these types of gardens. Recently, two companies, Mati 1909 and Generali Arredamenti, presented in Pistoia a garden prototype for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, also with the aforementioned general characteristics.

Fontenuovo
MATI 1909

La Mosqueta, web page with multimedia activities for children with disabilities

Publications Bank of innovations

La Mosqueta, web page with multimedia activities for children with disabilities

El Maresme Foundation, L’Arboç School

Foto: La Mosqueta

Learning web page for children 0-4 years with motor, sensory, cognitive and emotional disabilities or with serious behavioral, social or cultural disorders. The web page offers a broad catalog of multimedia activities aimed at developing the motor skills, cognitive and communicative skills of children. Children can access four types of learning activities: cause-effect, basic skills, stories and painting.


The differentiating feature of the web page is the form of access to the activities which allows that people with serious motor or relationship problems are able use all of them.

Children access the computer by Scanning, a simplified form of access to the computer or tablet using two unique buttons, one that is used to do the search and the other to perform the action. These buttons can be the two mouse clicks, the space and enter keys on the keyboard, or switches that emulate them.

La Mosqueta

Mobile Laundry Services for people experiencing homelessness

Publications Bank of innovations

Mobile Laundry Services for people experiencing homelessness

Orange Sky

Foto: Orange Sky

Orange Sky provides a platform for every day Australians to connect through a regular laundry and shower service. The focus is on creating a safe, positive and supportive environment for people who are too often ignored or who feel disconnected from the community. Their volunteers are not social workers or experts on homelessness – they are empathetic listeners and great conversationalists.

Orange Sky volunteers have participated to date in more than 144,000 hours of conversation and have helped to change the perception of the homeless and connect communities throughout Australia.

Orange Sky

La Casa de Carlota, a design studio that promotes diversity and inclusion

Publications Bank of innovations

La Casa de Carlota, a design studio that promotes diversity and inclusion

1000Friends

Design studio that promotes the employment inclusion of people with Down syndrome and autism, and young people

Unlike other initiatives, La Casa de Carlota it is not an occupational center or an aid service, but an art company that seeks to incorporate diverse profiles in order to explore creativity without limitations. In the different projects, professional designers, students from design schools, illustrators, and creatives participate, as well as people with diverse abilities. The members define themselves as “creative activists”.

App&Town Compagnon, people with disability can travel independently on public transport

Publications Bank of innovations

App&Town Compagnon, people with disability can travel independently on public transport

AMPANS and Mass Factory

Foto: Unsplash

The technological company Mass Factory in collaboration with the Foundation AMPANS and the Foundation Saint Pere Claver has developed App&Town Compagnon, a transport-assisted system for people with intellectual disability, mental illness, or memory dysfunctions, that allows them to safely use public transportation, with precise guidance provided by a mobile app, and continuous monitoring by means of a Web App in the cloud. App&Town Compagnon conforms to the Smart City Concept, improvement citizens’ quality of life through use of technology.

App&Town Compagnon is a customized transport assisted system which is adaptable to the abilities of each user. The system includes: route-planning, guidance, and remote monitoring. App&Town Compagnon is a tool that improves social inclusion, mobility, and self-esteem of its users.

In 2018 Apps&Town Compagnon won the Technology Innovation Red Cross Humanitarian Award.

App&Town

Street Soccer Barcelona, a social and sports project for the homeless

Publications Bank of innovations

Street Soccer Barcelona, a social and sports project for the homeless

Street Soccer Barcelona Associació

Foto: Younited Belgium

A social and sports project targeting the homeless and people in an acutely precarious social situation. The project leverages the power of football in order to address the reintegration process.

The programme offers football training, a small meal before or after the training and hygiene and showering facilities. The morning training sessions consist of an adapted and non-competitive profile featuring the classic aspect of football training, as well as a safe area for doing sports through talking and listening. The individual and collective dynamics offer a platform for players to show off their skills and to draw attention to the problems of the homeless and the true face of the housing problem. In this regard, Street Soccer Barcelona provides exposure for the reality of homelessness, albeit with a more positive approach.

Smartnav4, a mouse for using the computer with total independence

Publications Bank of innovations

Smartnav4, a mouse for using the computer with total independence

Fundació Miquel Valls, Lake Software

The Fundació Miquel Valls, through its Support Product Bank, offers this device that allows people to use their computer with total autonomy.

SMARTNAV4 is the fourth generation of a mouse that helps people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other mobility-impairing diseases to use a computer. With the help of the integrated Dwell Clicking software, and a free on-screen keyboard created by Lake Software, THE SMARTNAV4 works by means of a small sticker made of reflectant material placed anywhere on the face and a sensor located on the screen. The user can control the mouse pointer on the screen with head movements in totally hands-free fashion. People with ALS can therefore write emails, answer text messages and do anything on the computer totally independently.

RefAid, an app for refugees arriving in Europe

Publications Bank of innovations

RefAid, an app for refugees arriving in Europe

Trellyz

Application aimed at migrants and refugees arriving in Europe every day so they can identify the services they can access

RefAid is a mobile application that shows migrants, refugees, and accompanying social workers which nearby services they can access, on a map with a simple interface.

The platform ensures that the information and location of the users is completely confidential, it is not stored, and it is not shared with any authority or police force.

The organizations that appear on the map are trustworthy and verified. The search includes filters for themes such as food, shelter, bathrooms, and information.