Google Opens Barrier-Free Technology Center in Munich

After London, Dublin and Zurich, Munich is the fourth location in Europe and the first in Germany where Google has opened a barrier-free technology center. In Arnulfpark, where Google already has a Munich location, in addition to the Google Safety Engineering Center, which specializes in safety, the ADC, which stands for Accessibility Discovery Center, is now being built.

It serves as an exhibition space and meeting place for people with and without disabilities to communicate about barrier-free technologies and develop solutions together. As part of the opening, Google.org, Google’s philanthropic unit, announced a grant of €250,000 from the Munich-Winnigerode Foundation. The foundation is a citizens’ movement that has supported and accompanied people with disabilities in their daily lives since the 1950s. The funds will be used to train 45 people with disabilities to become digital skills trainers.

A place for comprehensive training and product design.

Google says it wants to create a place at ADC where inclusive product design can be experimented with and solutions that make things better for people with disabilities can be demonstrated. That includes both hardware and software, and even some computer games specifically designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

The ADC will be available to internal staff as well as external groups and individuals. They can book tours to discover barrier-free solutions and technologies. However, the rooms are somewhat manageable, with space for groups of five to twelve people. In the medium term, the center will also serve as a platform for workshops, trainings and events to promote exchanges on accessibility and raise awareness of the needs of people with disabilities.

In the coming months, the Pfennigparade, a citizen movement that has been involved in the integration of people with disabilities in Munich for many years, will develop a training programme for 45 trainers with disabilities in the building. These aim to communicate the topics of digital accessibility in general and barrier-free online publishing to companies, associations and interested parties, especially within the framework of the Digital Accessibility Act which comes into force next year.

Google technology helps people with low vision in everyday life

Google has a number of technical solutions in development or already completed that could help people with disabilities live their daily lives with fewer barriers. There’s a project guide with Fatmir Sirimiti, a blind athlete who ran a half marathon in Stockholm with the help of Google’s guidance technology. The project guidelines aim to give blind and severely visually impaired people some independence and guidance.

goes in a similar direction I noticeAn app that uses computer vision and generative AI to help people with low vision complete tasks faster and easier. Lookout provides information about the environment via the camera and helps with reading texts and documents, sorting mail, or storing groceries.