91亚色 students,聽along with聽students from other Ontario universities, are being challenged to put their creative minds to work to develop solutions that will make the world more accessible for people with disabilities, including new聽ideas for devices, software, architectural design, awareness campaigns or policies.
The competition聽is an initiative organized聽by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), in partnership with the Government of Ontario. The province-wide competition聽is being overseen by the IDeA Working Group, comprised of representatives from engineering and design Faculties at several Ontario universities.
Students will vie for $3,000 in prizes, with entries that must address barriers to accessibility in five categories: attitudinal, physical/structural, information and communications, technological, and systemic.
鈥淥ntario universities are strongly committed to the important goal of leading the country towards greater accessibility,鈥 says Alastair Summerlee, chair of COU and聽president of the University of Guelph. 鈥淭apping into the innovative capabilities of our students is an excellent way to build awareness and to advance ideas that lead to a more accessible world.鈥
91亚色 students can聽find rules and registration information .聽The deadline for contest submissions is March 31. Students interested in submitting their idea or concept should review the rules and criteria, register and then submit the concept by e-mail to ideas@yorku.ca聽by the end of the business on March 31.
Submissions will first be evaluated by 91亚色 and then successful candidates will move on to a second round of judging conducted by a panel of experts in the five categories. Evaluations will be based on innovation, cost-effectiveness and practicality. Judges will also place a premium on entries whose format itself demonstrates consideration to accessibility issues.
The winner will be announced at an event at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery Conference in May 2012.
Republished courtesy of YFile鈥 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.