Livox

Livox created software for tablets and smartphones that allows communication and learning for disabled people with speech disorders. Livox’s users have motor, cognitive, and visual disabilities due to Down’s syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, lateral sclerosis, stroke, and other disorders that prevent them from communicating orally. Livox’s innovation lies in how the software applies intelligent algorithms to interpret the user’s finger movements on the tablet surface and different algorithms that make the software adjustable to a wide range of disabilities.

Users can adapt the content of the app based on the profile of the person’s disability. The app holds 25,000 images to choose from and users can also add photos, record songs, and create icons and descriptions. Lesson plans can be shared online as a form of crowd-sourcing between students and caregivers. Overall, the application provides adaptive functions for various disabilities, amplifying multiple ways to communicate and learn for people with speech impediments in general. The tablet’s application is available in five languages: Portuguese, English, Arabic, German and Spanish.

The majority of Livox’s sales are in Brazil though a minority of sales are to international markets in the USA, Germany, Argentina, Peru and Colombia. Some 90% of the sales in Brazil are subsidized by the government, which buys the licenses at discounted rates in bulk and then donates them to low-income families. From 2011 to 2015, Livox donated 14,693 licenses out of 20,000 total sold to date. Livox also partnered with the Association of Parents and Friends of Exceptional People (APAES), which serves 60,000 people with disabilities in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. Similar partnerships are in place with the same association in three more states. This centralized distribution channel will enable Livox to sell 7,800 licences in 2017 alone, benefiting over 22,000 lower middle-income families in the states of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.