Google, which has revolutionized the Internet and smartphones, is now looking to make an investment into something more human.
The company has announced the Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities program, which is from the company's charitable division, Google.org. The program will release investments worth $20 million as grants to nonprofit organizations to fund ideas which will help solve the problems in addressing physical impairment in people from all over the world.
To launch the initiative, Google has granted a sum of $600,000 to the Enable Community Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that creates 3D-printed prosthetic body parts to be given for free to children.
Volunteers in the organization use their 3D printers to be able to design, print, assemble and then fit the prosthetic body parts onto the children that need them. 3D printing these prosthetics drastically decreases costs and improves the distribution speed.
According to the Enable Community Foundation, it will be using the grant to be able to collect data and feedback from its testers and users systematically to make improvements in its current technologies. The organization also said that the money will be used for the organization of design challenges globally.
Google also released a $500,000 grant to World Wide Hearing, which is an organization that is focused on increasing the accessibility of hearing aids for people that need the device in developing countries. The funds will be earmarked for the development of a smartphone-based kit which can be used to diagnose and treat loss in hearing.
The smartphone-based kit is an important technology that will greatly help developing countries in the diagnosis of auditory problems. The traditional equipment used for this endeavor is bulky and expensive, which makes it hard for low-income communities to gain access to them.
With almost $19 million still available under the initiative, Google's investments into the Enable Community Foundation and World Wide Hearing are just the beginning.
In addition, Google promised that it will have a renewed focus on making its products more accessible to people. The new ideology will not only cover improvements to be made on existing tools and products, but it would also lead to the development of new ones, according to the company's blog post.
"Together, we can create a better world, faster," the blog post ends, showing the drive of Google to release and improve solutions to the problem of physical disabilities across the world.
