Annual Conference and Challenge
February 4 to 5, 2019
Toronto
The Conference
Emails, audiobooks, subtitles, voice assistants and electric toothbrushes – what do they have in common? Inclusive Design – a revolutionary methodology that some of the most well known tech companies as well as startups are using to achieve commercial success and change the world.
The Challenge
The Access to Success Challenge invites you to pitch a business case for a product or service based on inclusive design – something that addresses an accessibility limitation but is also of universal benefit. Can you come up with the next game-changing idea to match revolutionary products like audiobooks?
The conference is open to all students and professionals. MBA students participating in the case competition receive access to the conference as well.
The conference is open to all students and professionals. All MBA students participating in the challenge or attending the conference receive access to exclusive recruiting opportunities.
What to Expect
Short Talks
Learn how 4 successful companies have implemented inclusive design in short, 20-minute talks
Presentations
Hear the ideas of the top 3 teams from the Access to Success Challenge
Demo
Check out inclusive design products in an interactive demo period
Mixer
Submit your resume; meet recruiters and accessibility champions
The conference venue is accessible and accessible parking is also available. Closed captions will be provided throughout the event.
Short Talks
Kiran Kaja
Technical Program Manager
Kiran is passionate about using technology to enhance independence for everyone including users with disabilities. He leads accessibility for Search, Assistant and News at Google. He has helped launch a number of Google products and services that benefit users with disabilities such as Google Home smart speakers and smart displays.
Ricardo Wagner
Marketing and Operations Lead
Microsoft Canada
Ricardo Wagner is the enterprise marketing and operations product lead for modern workplace at Microsoft Canada. He leads many local initiatives to empower people with disabilities both in and out of Microsoft. Wagner is working to support education in Africa and Latin America, co-leading a program called Myskills4Afrika.
Simon Lau
Head of Product
Otter.ai
Simon Lau is the Head of Product at AISense, the maker of the award-winning Otter.ai voice note-taking and team collaboration app. He is a seasoned product leader with 20+ years of experience in building innovative consumer and enterprise products, applying speech recognition, AI, and analytics to meet the unmet needs in contact center, customer engagement, enterprise collaboration, and consumer productivity.
Kiran is passionate about using technology to enhance independence for everyone including users with disabilities. He leads accessibility for Search, Assistant and News at Google. He has helped launch a number of Google products and services that benefit users with disabilities such as Google Home smart speakers and smart displays.
Ricardo Wagner is the enterprise marketing and operations product lead for modern workplace at Microsoft Canada. He leads many local initiatives to empower people with disabilities both in and out of Microsoft. Wagner is working to support education in Africa and Latin America, co-leading a program called Myskills4Afrika.
Simon Lau is the Head of Product at AISense, the maker of the award-winning Otter.ai voice note-taking and team collaboration app. He is a seasoned product leader with 20+ years of experience in building innovative consumer and enterprise products, applying speech recognition, AI, and analytics to meet the unmet needs in contact center, customer engagement, enterprise collaboration, and consumer productivity.
Joint Talk
Rie Norregaard
Managing Creative Director
SYPartners
Rie is passionate about design as an act of service—from designing more inclusive organizations to reimagining how an ordinary product, such as a cane, can become extraordinary for the person who uses it.
At SYPartners, Rie serves as a Managing Creative Director, helping clients envision and build a future that’s made for all of us—and the best in us. Previously, Rie was CEO and co-founder at Omhu. She’s worked as a Creative Director at leading design firms, such as Smart Design, Organic, Quirky, and Frog Design, and has designed solutions for brands including: American Express, Chanel, Cisco, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Nike, OXO, TED, Vogue, Samsung, GE, and Mattel.
Alex Haagaard
Director of Communications
The Disabled List
Alex is a designer and activist, who believes that disability is creative opportunity.
As Director of Communications for The Disabled List, Alex is leading content production and outreach to shift outdated disability narratives both in and outside of academia. A proudly messy interdisciplinarian, they draw on a background in service design, sociology and lived expertise.
Outside their design work, Alex is passionately involved with health justice activism. They currently serve on the Central East LHIN Patient and Family Advisory Committee, and founded #MedTraumaChat, a popular Twitter hashtag dedicated to discussing medical
trauma.
Rie is passionate about design as an act of service—from designing more inclusive organizations to reimagining how an ordinary product, such as a cane, can become extraordinary for the person who uses it.
At SYPartners, Rie serves as a Managing Creative Director, helping clients envision and build a future that’s made for all of us—and the best in us. Previously, Rie was CEO and co-founder at Omhu. She’s worked as a Creative Director at leading design firms, such as Smart Design, Organic, Quirky, and Frog Design, and has designed solutions for brands including: American Express, Chanel, Cisco, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Nike, OXO, TED, Vogue, Samsung, GE, and Mattel.
Alex is a designer and activist, who believes that disability is creative opportunity.
As Director of Communications for The Disabled List, Alex is leading content production and outreach to shift outdated disability narratives both in and outside of academia. A proudly messy interdisciplinarian, they draw on a background in service design, sociology and lived expertise.
Outside their design work, Alex is passionately involved with health justice activism. They currently serve on the Central East LHIN Patient and Family Advisory Committee, and founded #MedTraumaChat, a popular Twitter hashtag dedicated to discussing medical
trauma.
Interactive Demo
The Interactive Demo is designed to show attendees what inclusive design ‘looks and feels’ like. In this walk-around section of the conference, you can interact with companies showcasing products with different features, created to solve for a specific user type but addressing a wider base of customer needs.
2018 Conference Recap
Our Partners
Presenting Sponsor
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Special Thanks
Join Us!
Rotman School of Management
105 St George Street
Toronto, ON
M5S 2E8