Dear eTISC member,

I have the pleasure of inviting you to the launch event of the second issue of the WIPO Technology Trends flagship report on Assistive Technology which will take place virtually on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 from 14:00 to 16:00 CET. The event will be held in English with live captioning and interpretation will be provided in the 6 UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).  The event will also be webcasted for those participants who are not registered. 

This second issue of the WIPO Technology Trends is the first publication of its kind to explore a wide range of assistive technologies from an intellectual property (IP) perspective.  It highlights innovation trends in conventional and emerging assistive technology for persons with disabilities and aging populations and presents a new taxonomy on emerging assistive products.  The Report also covers assistive products in mobility, vision, hearing, communication, cognition, self-care and environment and identifies a list of enabling technologies, which play an important role in the development of the assistive technology field.  Finally, it incorporates a new feature for assessing how close such technologies are to commercialization, including the technology readiness level (TRL) of the identified emerging assistive applications. 

The launch event includes:

• A presentation of highlights of the WIPO Technology Trends report, including key trends and players in the field;
• A panel discussion with Assistive Technology experts on technology trends and future of assistive technology; policy, user perspective and the role of different innovator profiles in the assistive technology landscape.
• A discussion allowing registered participants to interact with the panelists.

The draft Agenda can be found on the WIPO meeting web page at https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=61628 . To attend, please register using this registration link https://www.wipo.int/registration/en/form.jsp?registration_id=413 and the following secure code BP754DWS99.  Please use the same credentials on the day of the event. The link to the session will be communicated to you the day before the event, on Monday, March 22, 2021. The report will be made available including accessible EPUB on the launch date at http://www.wipo.int/tech_trends/en/assistive_technology

Please feel free to share this invitation with your network. Should you wish to involve your communication team, please ask them to contact Irene.Kitsara@wipo.int who will put them in direct contact with our Media and Press team.

We look forward to welcoming you to the event!