UN: Boom in innovation for overcoming disabilities

The WIPO report found that more than 15,500 of patent filings between 1998 and 2020 were for so-called emerging assistive technologies, like assistive robots, smart home applications, wearables for visually impaired people and smart glasses. — People vector created by macrovector - www.freepik.com

GENEVA: Innovations aimed at helping people overcome mobility, sight and other disabilities have exploded in recent years, and are becoming ever more integrated in regular consumer goods, the United Nations said on March 23.

More than one billion people worldwide currently need technology-based assistance to overcome a disability – a figure expected to double in the next decade as populations age, UN data shows.