The Competence Centre for Labour, Welfare and Social Research (CLWS), the Competence Centre for Management and Entrepreneurship (CMI) and the Competence Centre for School, Social and Educational Needs (BESS) at SUPSI, together with the employers' association UCIT, the Atgabbes Association and other partners in the area, are participating in the Innovation Booster program "Co-designing human services," sponsored by Innosuisse, with a project that aims to find innovative solutions to the problem of low labor participation of people with disabilities. The project is now in the phase of developing and testing innovation proposals.
The work participation of people with disabilities in Switzerland is significantly lower than that of the general population, despite the fact that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the right to work participation in an open, inclusive and accessible work environment for people with disabilities. Barriers to employment inclusion go far beyond the personal deficits of people with disabilities, and so-called contextual factors play an important role, consistent with a social conception of disability.
To find solutions to the problem, an interdisciplinary team of researchers belonging to the Competence Centre for Labour, Welfare and Social Research (CLWS, project coordinator), the Competence Centre for Management and Entrepreneurship (CMI) and the Competence Centre for School, Social and Educational Needs (BESS) of SUPSI, together with the employers' association UCIT (Unione Cristiana Imprenditori Ticinesi) and the Atgabbes Association (Associazione Ticinese di Genitori ed Amici dei Bambini Bisognosi di Educazione Speciale), obtained funding from Innosuisse, fitting within the Innovation Booster program "Co-designing human services" 2023-2024.
The goal of the project is to develop innovative solutions through the methodology of Design Thinking, in order to imagine a reality in which people with disabilities see their specificities more welcomed and valued within Ticino companies and, in turn, companies see their needs considered and respected. This methodology, centered on user needs, highly participatory, and capable of combining creativity and design, is cited by Bain & Company as one of the 23 tools of 2023 available to management, still largely underestimated by businesses despite the innovative potential arising from its use.
Both representatives of the disability community (the cantonal special education institutions, adult disability institutions and other nonprofits promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities) and businesses (mainly associated with UCIT) actively participated in the workshops organized for the development of the project. In addition, the project includes the direct involvement of people with disabilities.
The "Supported employment for people with disabilities and businesses" project is now in the development and testing phase of innovation proposals. The first phase of conceptualization and discovery, concluded in September, resulted in the development of two proposals deemed worthy of further development in this second phase. The entire process is guided by the Design Thinking methodology, which, in this second phase, will be articulated in the progressive realization of prototypes, tests and workshops aimed at evaluating the features, functionalities and processes required for the concrete implementation of the two proposals.
The first proposal, which will be led by CMI, is to develop a Inclusivity Hub to develop awareness, information and training offerings (online and in-person) for the benefit of companies potentially interested in the inclusion of people with disabilities. The goal is to make available to companies all the tools to give substance to the values of inclusion, openness and social responsibility so that they can address the employment inclusion of a person with a disability by fully enhancing the person's capabilities while achieving excellent business results.
Taking the guidelines of supported employment as a reference, the second proposal, under the responsibility of CLWS, will aim to develop greater cooperation and joint actions that will enhance the know-how of the different actors active in training and accompanying people with disabilities to work, while strengthening their effectiveness and efficiency.
The Innovation Booster program
In a rapidly changing world, the need to accelerate innovation and find new ways to solve complex problems is becoming increasingly urgent. The Innovation Booster tool helps to respond openly and collaboratively to new challenges.
Innovation Boosters operate in topics as diverse as the environment, digitization, health, and social innovation and enable radical ideas to be developed co-creatively through open innovation.
Every year, Innosuisse funds research and innovation projects in Switzerland carried out through the Innovation Booster tool. You can learn more about Innovation Booster activities at the following link:
www.innosuisse.ch/inno/it/home/supporto-per-lavvio-di-progetti-e-networking/innovation-booster.html