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In October 2000, the Rehabilitation Engineering
Research Center on Technology Transfer (T2RERC) partnered with
the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Communication
Enhancement (AAC-RERC) and the Southeast region of the Federal
Laboratory Consortium to conduct the third Demand-Pull Project
on Communication Enhancement. The Project goal is to facilitate
the introduction of new and innovative technology and products
into the augmentative communication marketplace.
From November 2000 through January 2001, a web-based
consumer panel and two face-to-face consumer panels were conducted.
The T2RERC staff recruited 16 manufacturing and research experts
to participate in phone interviews. An AAC Roundtable Discussion
was held in March 2001 to introduce the project and gather input
from experts from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
White Papers were developed for four technology areas. You can
view the white papers using the following links:
In June 2001, the "Stakeholder Forum on Communication Enhancement"
was held with 75 experts attending, including consumers, manufacturers,
technology developers, technical and clinical researchers, advocates,
and institutional collaborators. Prior to the forum, participants
were required to read the Industry Profile and the white papers
outlining the four technology needs. Each technology area was
the topic of one discussion group at the forum. Each stakeholder
had the opportunity to participate in two discussion groups. In
each group, the goal was to validate these needs, develop problem
statements, and help generate technical specifications.
From August through December 2001, problem statements representing
specific technological refinements and innovations desired by
manufacturers with consensus support from all other stakeholder
groups were developed from forum data and prior work. Problem
statements were disseminated to all forum participants and other
interested parties. You can view the problem statements using
the following links:
Proceedings
for the Stakeholder Forum on Communication Enhancement have
also been written and disseminated. They include an industry summary,
white papers, Forum data, problem statements, an evaluation summary,
partner descriptions and project participant contact information.
In January 2002, the T2RERC began to seek advanced technologies
that match the specifications described in the problem statements
and work to transfer them to the AAC industry. Technology proposals
submitted to the T2RERC are screened and promising proposals brokered
to manufacturers in the Augmentative and Alternative Communication
industry.
To date the T2RERC has received 7 submissions. One technology
has been transferred and 6 are currently in review. Please visit
http://cosmos.buffalo.edu/aac
for more information on technology submissions.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For further information about the project, please contact Carly
Panchura, AAC Project Director at (716) 829-3141 (ext. 152 or
panchura@buffalo.edu
) or Steve Bauer, Co-Director of the T2RERC and Director of Research
and Development (ext. 117 or smbauer@cosmos.ot.buffalo.edu).
On the web, visit the following sites for more information:
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