Inclusive innovation stems from co-design
The final event of Ask&Hack has come to an end in Turin. The project involved a class from the Convitto Nazionale Umberto I boarding school together with four young people with visual impairments - Andreea, Samuele, Desiree and Alessandro - in a challenge with a high social impact: to imagine, design and prototype an innovative digital solution capable of responding to a concrete need of young people with visual impairments.
Ask & Hack is a free workshop format promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS and Sys-Tek SB Srl that promotes inclusion through technological co-design. The 2025-2026 edition, dedicated to mobility and accessible driving for young people with visual impairments, sees the collaboration of the “Buio in Pista” Association and the National Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Turin.
Two teams are competing, with two projects presented to the jury after a training course led by trainers Matteo Jacopo Lingua and Marco Salussolia, with the support of three teachers from the boarding school, Federica Montana, Riccardo Todde and Fabio Faccilongo, and Professor Pietro Luongo from IPSSEOA G. Colombatto, who, together with his students, also organised the light lunch for the final event.
The projects
Team “Surimi e Limone”
Samuele, Desiree, Alisa, Merlino and Gaia
Project: Verba Vox
An app designed to facilitate the study of visually impaired people through the intelligent transformation of written texts into accessible audio content. As can be seen in the project slides, Verba Vox integrates text recognition (OCR) and speech synthesis functions to read documents, images or paper pages, also allowing for multilingual translation. The aim is to make studying more independent, immediate and customisable, reducing the barriers associated with traditional reading.
Team “UrbanEyes”
Andreea, Alessia, Letizia, Giuseppe, Sofia and Francesco
Project: UrbanEyes
An app to support the autonomy of visually impaired people in urban travel. The presentation reveals a two-tiered approach: on the one hand, the possibility of calling the nearest volunteer, and on the other, the use of artificial intelligence to recognise obstacles and dangers through the camera. The solution is completed by a personal area for data management and a function for booking meetings with volunteers. The idea is to offer simple, immediate and practical help in the most complex urban contexts.
The jury was won over by Verba Vox, which was awarded for its consistency with the expressed need, the quality of the prototype and its focus on real usability by visually impaired users.
A diverse jury, a shared vision
The evaluation was entrusted to a jury composed of Elisa Bottallo (Paideia Foundation), Roberta Possemato (Zoom Foundation), Michela Vita (Buio in Pista Association), Gaia (Sys-Tek) and Marco Salussolia (FMD).
This composition reflects the nature of the project: an ecosystem of different actors - schools, the third sector, social enterprises - called upon to collaborate in order to transform innovation into concrete opportunities for inclusion. Special thanks also go to Professor Alfonso Carlone of the IIS Amedeo Avogadro in Turin, a key contact for the launch of this new edition.
Beyond the hackathon: a method
Ask&Hack is not just a competition, but a laboratory of digital citizenship. Working in mixed teams meant designing with, not for: listening to experiences, confronting real barriers, putting technical skills at the service of relationships.
This is the heart of the project that FMD and Sys-Tek are pursuing together: a common path that intertwines technological innovation and social responsibility, valuing co-creation as an educational lever.
The initiative is part of the broader Coding Girls & Women programme, supported by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, and confirms the Foundation's strategic direction: to build ecosystems in which technology and inclusion grow together.
