THE VOICE OF INDIAN INNOVATION

Ajit Narayanan, an electrical engineer from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), is the inventor of Avaz, India's first augmentative and alternative communication device for children with disabilities. It all began when he started working with Vidyasagar, a school for children with special needs, in Chennai. After studying various technologies in the market as well as some prototypes developed by IIT Madras professors, he developed several prototypes for students of Vidyasagar, culminating in a working prototype good enough for the children to give useful feedback.

With the proliferation of tablets, Avaz has transformed from being a hardware device to a software app. Further research is being concentrated on 'Avaz Together', which also includes features to train a parent or a teacher, as well as provide them with feedback, including analytics. Avaz received plenty of support from the Indian government in form of grants to develop the product. The Ministry of Information Technology helped Ajit to secure funding. The market for Avaz in India comprises of special schools in the country which fall under a national trust set up by the central government.

Ajit Narayanan received National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (2010) and was felicitated by the President of India for his outstanding contribution in the field. However, he humbly admits that the main focus is to change people's attitudes towards disability rather than selling the app.