International Institute of Information Technology EMPOWER Assistive Technology Conference 2020

The 3^rd EMPOWER Assistive Technology Conference will be held during 14-17 October 2020 at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB), India.

EMPOWER 2020 will bring together all stakeholders in the Assistive Technology (AT) sector, including researchers, practitioners in the government and industry, people with disabilities, disabled persons organizations, special educators, inclusive designers, entrepreneurs, impact investors as well as policymakers engaged in different ways with issues involved in the creation, production and dissemination of AT solutions.

Continuing on the success of the previous two editions, EMPOWER 2020 is expected to see an active participation of the aforesaid stakeholders, not only to discuss existing solutions but also to brainstorm and seed ideas for future solutions in the AT space, especially from the perspective of the emerging challenges in the Global South. The conference will consist of the following tracks covering keynote talks, presentation of research and invited papers, posters, user and discussion forums, panel discussions and product demonstrations:

Keynotes: Talks by distinguished scholars in the area of AT

Plenary/Panel Discussions: Interactive discussions with an expert panel on the dais

Research Papers: Papers accepted for oral presentation: peer reviewed, non-archived paper submission with talks of about 15 minutes duration. Papers accepted for poster presentation: peer reviewed, non-archived poster presentation with talks of 5 minutes duration and poster display

Product Expo: Stalls for ongoing product display.

Experience Zone: for different stakeholders to see, touch, try and experience some of the ATs meant for them

Birds of a Feather/Discussion Forum (BoF/DF): Participant driven, informal, deep-dive discussion sessions during evening/snack time. Minutes/summary of these sessions to be presented on the final day of the conference after the morning keynote.

Workshop/Tutorial: Long instructional sessions by experts on relevant topics, e.g. creating inclusive educational/corporate spaces, designing accessible courses, contents and pedagogy etc.

RESEARCH PAPER SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Conference accepts extended abstracts based on both original works as well as previously published works. Extended abstracts should be limited to a maximum of 1000 words and two printed pages including figures, references etc. In case of original work, extended abstract would be reviewed and based on the review outcome, it could be accepted under full paper, short paper or poster paper category and the authors would have to submit a suitable manuscript addressing the concerns of the reviewers. In case extended abstract is based on an already published work, then the same should be explicitly mentioned in the submitted extended abstract. Based on the review such extended abstracts may be included for presentation in the conference.

EMPOWER 2020 is open to all areas that can assist integrate of people with special needs with the society. The areas include but are not limited to education, mobility and transport, health, communication and entertainment. Note this year the submissions would be handled only through the Easy Chair portal. .