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NSW insurer icare has hosted two pitch events in Tamworth and Dubbo to find transport solutions for people living with disabilities.
The events saw community organisations pitch their ideas on how to improve transport options for people living with disabilities and severe injuries for a slice of $500,000 in icare foundation funding.
“We want to improve transport options so that people living with a disability or injury are able to make it to social occasions, like having dinner or coffee with friends, not just to and from medical appointments,” Barney Smith, interim general manager at icare Foundation.
icare said the pitches are the result of a year-long process that kicked off with a call to Tamworth and Dubbo communities for ideas on how they could improve transport options for people with disabilities or injuries. Workshops were then held earlier in the year to allow participants to develop concepts with the support of UNE's SMART Region Incubator as well as to network and form partnerships.
The applications are now being assessed by the icare team, with the funding decision expected to be out by early February and the solutions to be up and running mid-2019.
“We’re looking for projects that have the potential to make a real difference in the lives of people living with a severe injury in regional NSW,” Smith said. “To be successful, they have to prove that they are both desirable to the users and have a viable business model behind them, ensuring that these will be real, practical solutions now and well into the future.”
