The Scottish Government is focused on tackling inequalities including embedding inclusive communication within Government and across the public sector. This Challenge will work with public bodies and people with lived experience of barriers to accessing public services, such telephone based-services. For instance, people who have lost their voice, have difficulty speaking, are deaf but do not use British Sign Language, have a learning disability, lack dexterity to select number buttons, or live with lifelong or acquired conditions, such as cerebral palsy or motor neurone disease. Inclusive communication will increase the proportion of people in Scotland reporting that their communications needs are being met when accessing public services.

So, how do we use Artificial Intelligence, data and digital technologies to enable more inclusive access to public services, starting with disabled people?

The Solution

An intelligent virtual assistant that scales using AI interaction with users with different disabilities to find their service. Human centric design tailors an efficient and enjoyable experience via speech, text or symbol interaction. The backend clusters and reduces services and then recommends one in real-time. The AI system improves as more users discover more services.

The Opportunity

Governments, Health and Local Authorities across the world are prioritising equitable access to their services for all of their communities. Beyond governments, large enterprises where disabled users find it difficult to discover products and services. Research by Insightdriven has shown that by designing well for disabled users leads to great design for all users.

Next Steps

Connecting You Now intend to continue innovating and expanding the reach of this technology to other digitally excluded communities, such as those who may not speak English as their first language, individuals with neurological differences or those who were not born in the era of the digital natives.

The Team

Jora Gill, ex-Chief Digital Officer of The Economist, CTO Elsevier, CTO Standard and Poor’s; Andrew William, ex-Chief Digital Officer at The Economist, Chief Architect of Elsevier and S&P; Intive — AI & engineering development partner who work with Audi, Sony, Adidas.