TOM@University program is the first of its kind; a unique three-way partnership between a global philanthropic organisation, inter-disciplinary student teams within a university and Need Knowers who want solutions for individual challenges in their daily lives. The program shifts thinking in the way assistive solutions are developed. All too often people living with disability have products designed ‘for’ them, and not ‘with’ them. TOM@University is unique because Need Knowers and student teams co-design solutions together. The experience is collaborative, iterative, human-centred, and is an example of the melding of three diverse disciplines that results in bespoke products that have a real and direct impact on people’s lives. The program disrupts assistive technology and device industry as part of a larger healthcare industry paradigm shift. It creates economic and social impact in a unique way as the aim is to create as affordable solutions as possible and all outcomes are open-source, available for everyone through the TOM:Global digital platform. The solutions to date include an automatic wheelchair cleaning station, a bowling-launching device, a dog walking solution for a quadruple amputee, a pickup stick, flotation suit and anchorage for hydrotherapy and cleaning & storage-unit for a CPAP mask (last 4 in the product development phase). Furthermore, the program harnesses global reach in a scalable way, as overlaying two networks (TOM:Global and communities across the globe and Design Factory Global Network) enables effective dissemination of the outcomes and internationalisation of the program.
