13 June 2005
The highly respected Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has begun working with the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD) as part of a new programme aimed at making life easier for the disabled.
According to Media Corp News, researchers will be looking to develop solutions to everyday problems encountered by people with a variety of impairments through an agreed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the university and the society.
"This MOU will bring our students close to practical problems and also give them an opportunity to utilise their skills and talents to solve real practical problems," said Michael Khor, the director of Research at NTU.
Dr Ow Chee Chung, executive director of SPD, added that the project will also help forge a more region-specific assistive technology market.
"Take for instance, some simple speech devices," said Dr Chung. "By and large, most of the speech devices are in the form of by the Westerners. And many of the vocabulary are also Western in that sense. So I think a lot of the applied technology therefore would have to be localised."
Members from NTU and the SPD will formulate a controlling committee to run the programme efficiently and manage production and rollout.© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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