News

The Trace Center is one of the leaders in a new coalition that was awarded a $13 million, four-year grant by the European Commission. Titled CLOUD4All, the project launched in Madrid on November 1, 2011, and will be carried out by a coalition of 30 partners, including Microsoft, Mozilla, Phillips, eleven universities and research organizations, six user groups and nonprofit organizations, and nine other companies.

CLOUD4All is an FP7 large-scale integrated project to carry out initial research and development on several of the key components of the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII), which was conceptualized by the Trace Center as part of the Universal Interface and Information Technology RERC funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (grant #H133E080022). The GPII will in effect provide on-demand, personalized interfaces to information and communication technologies of all types, enabling people with disability, literacy, and age-related barriers to fully participate in our rapidly evolving technical society.

Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden and others have created a new nonprofit association in Geneva, Switzerland called Raising the Floor – International, which will serve as the coordinating organization for worldwide efforts to develop the GPII. Funding for the GPII in the United States is included in the 2012 federal budget submitted by the White House.

For more information see http://raisingthefloor.org and http://GPII.net.