Announcing Sight Tech Global 2021

An event about AI and the future of accessibility for people who are blind or visually impaired

Shortly after the first Sight Tech Global event, in December last year, Apple and Microsoft announced remarkable new features for mobile phones. Anyone could point the phone camera at a scene and request a “scene description.” In a flash, a cloud-based, computer vision AI determined what was in the scene and a machine-voice read the information. Learning that “a room contains three chairs and a table” might not seem like a big advance for the sighted, but for blind or visually impaired people, the new feature was a notable milestone for accessibility technology: An affordable, portable and nearly universal device could now “see” on behalf of just about anyone.

Technologies like scene description will be on the agenda at the second annual Sight Tech Global event, December 1-2, 2021. The free, sponsor-supported, virtual and global event will convene many of the world’s top technologists, researchers, advocates and founders to discuss how rapid advances in technology, many centered on AI, are altering — both improving and complicating — accessibility for people with sight loss.

At the heart of Sight Tech Global is the hard question: How do highly advanced, AI-based technologies actually become compelling, affordable products that folks who are blind or visually impaired readily adopt? It took 40 years, for example, for the $50,000 “Kurzweil reading machine,” a boxy desktop device, to evolve into what blind people take for granted today, a free app available on any mobile phone that can “read” just about any text. As anyone working in the field will tell you, shaping technologies into truly useful, everyday, affordable tools for people with vision loss is no less demanding than it was 40 years ago.

The agenda for last year’s Sight Tech Global convened many of the best minds across the spectrum of accessibility-related technologies, including Microsoft’s Saqib Shaikh, Amazon’s Josh Miele, Apple’s Chris Fleizach, Orcam’s Amnon Shashua, civil rights lawyer Haben Girma, author and professor Sara Hendren and researcher and professor Danna Gurari. In addition to those speakers were a dozen well attended breakout sessions led by Perkins Access, Salesforce, APH, Humanware and others.

Because the event was free, virtual and highly accessible, more than 4,000 people from 70 countries attended the event last December. All the sessions (video and transcript) are still available on demand via the agenda or on YouTube. Attendees gave the event a generous thumbs up: 4.7 out of 5 for programming and 4.6 out of 5 for accessibility.

Now is the time to register so that our all-volunteer team can keep you posted on agenda updates and ensure you have a chance to sign up for limited-attendance breakout sessions. You can register here.

Got programming ideas? We are happy to hear from you — especially founders, inventors and researchers who have working technology products! The programming committee includes Jim Fruchterman (Benetech / TechMatters), Larry Goldberg (Verizon Media), Matt King (Facebook), Professor Roberto Manduchi (UC Santa Cruz) and Will Butler (Be My Eyes). Contact us [email protected].

Calling all sponsors! We’re delighted that Google, ProWellTech and Verizon Media have already signed on for 2021, and nearly all last year’s sponsors have signaled that they plan to renew their support for this significant event. Private donors are also welcome! To learn more, read here or contact us a [email protected].

Sight Tech Global is a production of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a 501(c)(3), that has been serving the Silicon Valley area for 75 years. Vista’s executive director, Karae Lisle, is the event’s chair. Vista is the beneficiary of all sponsorships and donations to Sight Tech Global. In 2020, 92% of the proceeds from Sight Tech Global went to support the Vista Center’s work to help thousands of people with vision loss in the Bay Area lead their best life.

Please join us at Sight Tech Global in December!