The business
Paige is the world’s first low-cost, multi-line braille display. The project was sourced by InAGlobe, an organisation that partners charities with universities to develop innovative solutions to problems faced in developing countries.
The challenge
The Kilimanjaro Blind Trust approached us with the problem that existing braille displays are limited to a single line of text. This makes them unsuited to subjects which require context or a spatial layout, such as STEM, music, tables, and graphs. They are also incredibly expensive, costing between £500 and £9,000. By lowering the cost per braille character, Paige has been designed to tackle both of these problems and transform braille literacy and education worldwide. We have tested our prototype at New College Worcester, a school for young people who are blind or vision impaired and are now looking at our next steps.
The impact
We know that Allia places a strong emphasis on social impact which is particularly important to the team. Looking ahead we’re intending to grow in the next 6 months, specifically rolling out to new schools and testing out new features. This would be followed by a trip to test Paige with the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust who serve 200 schools across Africa and have shaped our direction. We will also begin working with RPD International on design for manufacture and to define our regulatory roadmap.
We have spoken to individuals and organisations with diverse backgrounds and a global spread who have confirmed the need for a device like Paige. We work in close collaboration with people who use braille to ensure they have a say in the technology created for them and that the resulting design serves them in their daily lives. We have a strong engineering background as a team, but the business support and advice offered by DIF is going to be invaluable to us. We are facing lots of challenges as we scale so the insight and expertise provided throughout the programme will help us to put Paige in the hands of braille users. Braille is literacy, and the Paige team is dedicated to achieving affordable access to braille worldwide.
“Joining the DIF x Allia Accelerator Challenge is a great achievement for us – we’re at a stage where the dedicated business support will really help us to scale.”
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