W<strong>in</strong>nersWarsaw1,715,500Population (2012)0.08%Population growth per annum(2003-2012)€26,100GDP per capita (2013)4.54%Annual GDP growth (2003-2013)W<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g proposalPolishOfficial languageDirectlyelected mayor(four-year term)Metropolitan governanceVirtual Warsaw: giv<strong>in</strong>g the visuallyimpaired greater access to the cityVirtual Warsaw aims to give the visually impairedgreater freedom of movement across the city,particularly <strong>in</strong> the use of public transport andpublic facilities. Thousands of Bluetooth LowEnergy (BLE) beacons will be <strong>in</strong>stalled aroundthe Polish capital to provide <strong>in</strong>door and outdoormicro-navigation by communicat<strong>in</strong>g locationdata to smartphones. Us<strong>in</strong>g technology toimprove universal access at an <strong>in</strong>dividual levelhighlights the city’s capacity to make uniformpublic transport more specific to the needs ofits users. This freedom of movement is designedto reduce unemployment amongst the city’sbl<strong>in</strong>d population, currently at 81%. Warsawwill provide an application program <strong>in</strong>terface(APIs make it easier for technologies to ‘talk’ toeach other) to <strong>in</strong>crease the potential for further<strong>in</strong>novation by residents and bus<strong>in</strong>esses aroundthe <strong>in</strong>frastructure. The project borrows technologygenerally used by the private sector at asignificantly smaller scale, scal<strong>in</strong>g it up to coveran entire city.S<strong>in</strong>ce jo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the EU <strong>in</strong> 2004, Poland has movedtowards policy and economic convergence withthe rest of Europe. While real GDP per capita isstill catch<strong>in</strong>g up with western European countries,it more than doubled between 1989 and 2013,follow<strong>in</strong>g the revolutions that toppled communism<strong>in</strong> central and eastern Europe. In 2012, Poland’sR&D <strong>in</strong>vestment budget was 0.9% of GDP, whilethe EU average was 2%, with only F<strong>in</strong>land andSweden above 3%, the European 2020 target.Poland is the only EU member to have escapedrecession follow<strong>in</strong>g the 2008 f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis and hasidentified <strong>in</strong>novation as critical to further clos<strong>in</strong>gthe wage gap with richer nations and reach<strong>in</strong>gsusta<strong>in</strong>able <strong>in</strong>come growth for the bottom 40%of its population. To achieve this, Poland plans to<strong>in</strong>crease its research spend to 1.7% of GDP as partof its Europe 2020 target, but also recognises theneed to use government funds to strategically igniteits lagg<strong>in</strong>g private sector. Poland plans to use €10billion <strong>in</strong> EU structural funds, upgraded research<strong>in</strong>frastructure and <strong>in</strong>ternational partnerships tostimulate commercially oriented <strong>in</strong>novation. Aswages rise, Poland’s low-cost manufactur<strong>in</strong>g modelneeds to be replaced with more skilled andproductive jobs to rema<strong>in</strong> competitive.VisionVirtual Warsaw is an ambitious plan to use Bluetoothtechnology to make the Polish capital moreaccessible to the visually impaired. Micro-navigationbeacons will communicate changes <strong>in</strong> theurban environment to <strong>in</strong>crease safety and improveaccess to public transport, leisure facilities likeparks and theatres, and public build<strong>in</strong>gs. Careertra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g and employer awareness programmes willfurther improve the <strong>in</strong>dependence and employabilityof people with visual impairments; currently81% of the bl<strong>in</strong>d population is without work. The<strong>in</strong>novation fits with the adopted Europe 2020Strategy for smart, susta<strong>in</strong>able and <strong>in</strong>clusive growthby reduc<strong>in</strong>g the degree of social exclusion whilefoster<strong>in</strong>g new skills.ImpactThe city hopes more than half of visually impairedresidents will make use of Virtual Warsaw. Reduceddependency will not only liberate citizens tomore freely access Warsaw, it is likely to reducethe burden of care, enabl<strong>in</strong>g family helpers orvolunteers to access employment opportunitiesthat otherwise wouldn’t be available to them.Importantly, the project also plans to improvethe quality of e-government services by adopt<strong>in</strong>gWCAG 2.0, which aims to <strong>in</strong>crease the robustnessof assistive technologies, and create a centralsupport l<strong>in</strong>e for the visually impaired. For TomaszPactwa, Director of Welfare and Social Projects, itis about teach<strong>in</strong>g employers to “trust the element ofself-sufficiency for bl<strong>in</strong>d people,” allow<strong>in</strong>g visuallyimpaired <strong>in</strong>dividuals to move, enjoy and operatemore freely <strong>in</strong> Warsaw “<strong>in</strong> a more holistic way”.ImplementationA successful <strong>in</strong>door pilot with bl<strong>in</strong>d users <strong>in</strong> anadm<strong>in</strong>istrative build<strong>in</strong>g has already demonstratedthe feasibility of the scheme. The city will <strong>in</strong>stall thetechnology <strong>in</strong> public transport, public build<strong>in</strong>gs,leisure and cultural sites across the city, each ofwhich will be preceded by a smaller scale pilot andextensive test<strong>in</strong>g with users. The technology willthen be tailored to suit the significantly differentoperat<strong>in</strong>g environments, which <strong>in</strong>clude <strong>in</strong>door andoutdoor, churches and theatres.TransferabilityWarsaw then hopes to use what it has learnt tohelp other cities ensure accessibility for peoplewith visual disabilities. This <strong>in</strong>cludes comb<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>gtechnology with employment and skills tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g todevelop best practice. The city will also provide anopen API to enable local organisations to createother uses for the BLE <strong>in</strong>frastructure. Witness<strong>in</strong>gthe government spend<strong>in</strong>g more on <strong>in</strong>novation isan open <strong>in</strong>vitation to encourage the tertiary andprivate sectors to <strong>in</strong>vest their own time and effort.In the future, Pactwa believes that “anybody who42
enters the city will get <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong> theirown language,” echo<strong>in</strong>g a strong desire to makeWarsaw more accessible not only to citizens, butalso to visitors.Interview with Tomasz Pactwa,Director of Welfare and SocialProjects, City of WarsawW<strong>in</strong>nersVisual impairment <strong>in</strong> numbersGlobally, 285 million people are visuallyimpaired; 39 million are bl<strong>in</strong>d.About 90% of the world’s visually impairedpeople live <strong>in</strong> low-<strong>in</strong>come environments.Visual impairment is on the decrease despite theage<strong>in</strong>g world population.40,000 people with visual impairment live <strong>in</strong>Warsaw.81% unemployment <strong>in</strong> Warsaw’s bl<strong>in</strong>dpopulation – 20% above Europe’s highest youthunemployment statistic.Q Why did you enter the <strong>Mayors</strong> Challenge?A We wanted an external <strong>in</strong>stitution to judgeour idea to f<strong>in</strong>d out whether or not it was<strong>in</strong>novative at an <strong>in</strong>ternational level.Q Were there any other ideas?A Yes, there were several other <strong>in</strong>novations <strong>in</strong>plann<strong>in</strong>g and implementation: look<strong>in</strong>g at<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g citizen participation; a greenertransport by cycl<strong>in</strong>g to work <strong>in</strong>itiative; andtelemedic<strong>in</strong>e to <strong>in</strong>crease the quality ofhealthcare, while reduc<strong>in</strong>g its cost.Q Most beneficial aspect of the challenge?A Realis<strong>in</strong>g that other cities face similarchallenges, but respond with different solutions:the methodology, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g the problemthrough with research and a pre-launch pilot,will make future projects quicker to implement.Q If you hadn’t won?A It would have been less easy to f<strong>in</strong>ance, butwe would have proceeded. W<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g makesit much easier to access other grants anddonations.Q Impact on your city after five years?A We will use Virtual Warsaw to improve thequality of life for not only the visually impaired,but for other groups too.43
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