The university of Malaga creates a chair for reseaching and developing technologies that facilitate accessibiility in Smart Cities

The rector of the University of Malaga, Adelaida de la Calle, Indra's directors of Innovation and University Relations with the University, José Luis Angoso and Carlos Fernández, and the managing director of the Adecco Foundation, Francisco Mesonero, signed the collaboration agreement today in the university's rectorate through which the Indra-Adecco Foundation Accessible Technologies Research Chair at the UMA is created. Juan Jiménez Aguilar, sponsor of the Adecco Foundation who in 2011 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Malaga, was also present at the event.

This is Indra's 18th chair and the 9th Accessible Technologies research chair that the multinational, as part of its corporate responsibility, launches together with the Adecco Foundation at different Spanish universities with the aim of developing innovative solutions and services that facilitate the access to technology as well as the social and occupational integration of people with disabilities.

The ultimate objective of the new chair is to make cities more accessible by applying ICTs and to create an open platform for universal access in smart cities, called ALMA, that makes it possible to develop applications in this environment by anyone who is interested.

The first specific project that has been planned as part of the chair is a city location and guidance solution for people with reduced mobility. This solution will analyse the feasibility and potential of applications aimed at making the life of people with disabilities easier by taking advantage of the technologies rolled out in smart cities.

During the event to sign the chair, the university's rector, Adelaida de la Calle, highlighted "the importance of this applied research due to the component of servicing society it entails." "It is essential for the work carried out to go beyond classrooms and laboratories, and this is the best proof of this," she added as she was congratulated for the fact that the new chair is aimed at "making people's lives easier."

On the other hand, the director of Innovation at Indra, José Luis Angoso, pointed out that this chair "allows Indra and the University of Malaga to combine their extensive experience to develop new solutions and services for creating smart cities, with the aim of making technology accessible to everyone, and to people with disabilities in particular." "This is a new example of Indra's commitment to innovation and corporate responsibility," he added.

In his speech, the managing director of the Adecco Foundation, Francisco Mesonero, explained that "the launch of this chair means that people with disabilities, specifically those with reduced mobility, can operate more autonomously and independently in public spaces. This is an essential step for standardising and providing equal access to jobs."

This chair at the UMA represents a new step in the relationship between Indra and the University of Malaga; the two entities already work together in transferring scientific knowledge, promoting research activities through R&D projects, and providing training opportunities to students through internships and job placement activities. The new agreement established with the UMA also forms part of Indra's strategy of maintaining close relationships with knowledge institutions through its Software Labs in order to recruit professionals and access new technologies.

Improving mobility in cities

The first project undertaken by the chair plans to develop an application that will provide people with reduced mobility real time information about the best routes between an origin and a destination through their smartphones, focusing on alternatives that are handicapped accessible and avoiding crowded spaces or areas under construction. The system will also be able to channel to the corresponding public authorities the requests for infrastructure improvements that users consider necessary for ensuring their integration, such as replacing stairs with ramps or creating wider paths.

The solution will use augmented reality to provide guidance as well as information about any challenges, along with GPS technology and other alternatives for establishing the user's position/orientation. In addition, information about the user's routines will be processed in an intelligent manner, which will help the system distinguish important situations or challenges while incorporating conclusions.

Indra in Malaga

Since early 2004, Indra has been present in the Andalusia Technological Park in Malaga, where it has a Software Lab that currently employs approximately 350 professionals. The company also has a research and development laboratory specialised in advanced railway traffic solutions at Adif's Railway Technologies Centre in Malaga.

Indra's Malaga Software Lab executes many innovative projects for the various markets in which Indra operates, many with an international focus. Some examples are various developments of the DaVinci 2.0 railway management system for Lithuania's railway network or the Medellin Subway in Colombia, ticketing projects for the Saint Louis Subway in the United States, the Kuala Lumpur Subway in Malaysia, or traffic and toll management technologies for motorways in Mexico, Chile and Germany. In other areas, it is worth highlighting projects for implementing a new corporate management system at SEDAS, one of the leading power companies in Turkey, and at Kenya's KPLC power company, as well as the development and maintenance of SAP technology for a number of customers and other projects for the public sector and various autonomous communities.

Indra

Indra is one of the world's largest consultancy and technology multinationals, a leader in Europe and Latin America and is expanding in other emerging economies. Innovation is the cornerstone of its business, which is highly focussed on the customer and on sustainability. The multinational is one of the leaders in its sector in Europe in terms of investment in R&D and innovation, having invested more than €550M in the last three years. With sales approaching €3,000 million, it employs 42,000 professional and has customers in 128 countries.

University of Malaga

The University of Malaga was founded in 1972. It is responsible for the public service of higher education, it carries out teaching, study and research activities in the area of its specialities, and together with the University of Seville, it has launched the Andalusia TECH International Excellence Campus project, which has the aim of establishing a common space that promotes teaching excellence and quality research.

Adecco Foundation

Established in July 1999, the Adecco Foundation is the result of the social responsibility Adecco has assumed as the world leader in human resources. Its main objective is the inclusion in the job market of people who find it harder to gain employment.

The Adecco Foundation has work placement programmes for:

• The disabled
• The long-term unemployed over the age of 45
• Single mothers and victims of gender violence
• Other groups at risk of social exclusion