The 2nd International Conference on "Accessible Future”

In cooperation with the Poslovni Dnevnik this year’s conference will discuss the needs and solutions for facilitating the access and removing barriers for people with disabilities

Zagreb, 28 April 2023 The second international conference “Accessible Future”, dealing with the challenges that persons with disabilities are faced with in a modern society, will be held in Zagreb in mid-June. The aim of the conference is to connect policy makers, regulators, industry, media and experts in standardisation and technology, with the users, persons with disabilities in order to raise awareness of the important issue, The primary goal of the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), is provision of digital and physical accessibility as well as sharing knowledge and experience with others and creating a synergistic effect for greater achievements in the society. The conference is organised together with the Poslovni Dnevnik as a partner in the project. Within the scope of the conference, there will be a final event of student practices by the students with disabilities entitled “Experience is worth its weight in gold”, of this media. The project has been carried out with the Association” Zamisli” since 2013.

This year’s conference is also part of the initiative to raise awareness on diversities that should be taken into consideration in the process of  drafting the digital solutions or at physical accessibility, Moreover, whenever possible, the solutions should be implemented universally, i.e., possibility to be used by everyone, including people with disabilities. The conference will include three thematic sessions where new efforts will be presented in order to increase accessibility by regulators, academia and operators of electronic communications services, but it will also be an opportunity to hear and exchange experiences with foreign institutions and experts as well as the needs and comments of users with different types of disabilities, who are of greatest importance throughout this process.

Recently, in addition to the activities aimed at raising social awareness about proper access to persons with disabilities, and in cooperation with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER), HAKOM launched a programme, trying to solve the identified challenges faced by persons with disabilities, Eventually, it has resulted in several application development methodologies and solutions for the creation of accessible websites or mobile applications. Suggestions, implications and needs of persons with disabilities are taken into account while drafting design.  An educational game has also been developed teaching about the proper conduct of communication with people with disabilities and manuals for holding workshops on the topic of persons with disabilities for children in primary schools. More information on cooperation with FER can be found at the following link. 

The last year’s conference can be seen here.