Our Romanian company Ascendia S.A., the first e-learning company to get listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, with deep experience in e-learning software development, is now featured in Microsoft’s global AI for Accessibility Hall of Fame. This is a huge honor because we are “ one of the 3 worldwide Education companies listed in Microsoft AI for Accessibility Hall of Fame and the only one from Europe!”, according to Florentina Marilena Ionascu - Educational Director at Microsoft.  

AI for Accessibility is a Microsoft program committed to empowering people living with disabilities. Microsoft's AI for Accessibility program uses artificial intelligence (AI) to amplify human capability for more than one billion people with a disability around the world.  

“Disabilities can be permanent, temporary or situational.  By innovating for people with disabilities, we are innovating for us all. By ensuring that technology fulfills its promise to address the broadest societal needs, we can empower everyone – not just individuals with disabilities – to achieve more” says Brad Smith - President & Vice Chair at Microsoft.  

The distinction granted by Microsoft to our company to enter the AI for Accessibility Hall of Fame, is due to the LIVRESQ elearning authoring tool, which helps teachers and children in Romania to have access to interactive online lessons at a time when access to education, at least in rural areas, is very difficult.

System-wide change that encourages the digital learning transition in Romania is urgently needed against the lack of necessary infrastructure and skills in the country, especially in rural areas. In a 2020 market research by the European Commission, 60% of respondents from Romania said they had never used online learning tools before the pandemic moved everything online. Confirming this story, Romania ranked 26th out of 28 in the Digital Economy and Society Index 2020. 

Here is where our company can draw on the expertise with LIVRESQ, which is already used by more than 30,000 teachers in over 6,200 educational institutions in Romania and the Republic of Moldova to develop online interactive lessons, using a variety of templates and content elements. These 30.000 will soon meet another 140.000 (estimated) teachers as part of the local national project, in less than 1 year. 

The LIVRESQ Library is now the biggest online library of digital educational resources from Romania - more than 15.400 materials launched, of which 4695 are public. 

"Thank you, Microsoft for including us in this Hall of Fame and we promise to continue working to improve the lives of those living with disabilities," concludes Alex Malureanu - Co-Founder and CMO of Ascendia. 

Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-accessibility-hall-of-fame