Enabled by Design wins SI Camp

On the weekend of 4-6 April, a sprinkling of magic came to Bethnal Green. The Young Foundation played host to Social Innovation Camp, a new event that brought together 100-odd tech wizards, innovators and geeks to build practical solutions to six pressing social issues.

The kick-off social session on Friday evening was a reminder of how these things should be: the goodwill, energy and sheer talent among the participants – all volunteers – gave the event an inspiring buzz.

Then came the hard work, as the participants organised themselves into teams and began designing, configuring and coding in order to develop their ideas into prototypes for the final Show and Tell session on Sunday afternoon.

The winner was Enabled by Design, a website that helps people make daily tasks more manageable. It addresses a long-standing problem: so-called ‘living aids’ are usually ugly and often not designed with users in mind. All too often they’re targeted at a stereotypical ‘disabled’ user, and have all the style and charm of a bedpan. Enabled by Design challenges these stereotypes by drawing on two themes: the power of user-driven innovation, and the appeal of good design. It offers a venue for people - both with and without disabilities - to share their own solutions to living challenges, to recommend existing products and co-design new ones.

The internet is a huge catalyst for the world’s enthusiastic amateurs. They’re already using it to design everything from cars to beer. Using it to improve your own life seems like a natural extension. All this, and it snowed too – it was quite a weekend!