Google will grant $700,000 (US) to the Israeli-based Tikkun Olam Makers, an initiative aimed at producing technology to help people with disabilities.
The search engine giant’s grant was announced on Tuesday as part of the Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities campaign.
A statement from The Reut Group said Google’s funding will “underwrite TOM’s plans to support a global movement of innovators creating extremely affordable solutions to neglected needs of people with disabilities, with the goal of improving the lives of 250,000,000 within a decade.”
Tikkun Olam Makers, or TOM, holds three-day innovation marathons in which engineers and technologists come together to invent products for people with various disabilities — like a bionic hand and a walker that helps disabled people climb stairs.
TOM was started by The Reut Group, a Tel Aviv-based non-profit think tank. It claims to have created 120 product prototypes since 2014.
Photo: The Jewish News
