To fulfil the desire for independence and freedom of people with disabilities, Avanchair has devised a super-technological electric wheelchair.
"Like in Marvel comics, we invented a superpower." This is how Andrea Depalo opens his account of Avanchair, an innovative startup that has developed and patented a model of electric wheelchair which integrates, within its structure, a system for the lateral and vertical movement of the person seated in it, allowing them to transfer to other surfaces independently. The superpower Depalo refers to is, in fact, the ability to give independence and freedom to 70 million people — that is, those who use a wheelchair worldwide (600,000 in Italy).
But the dream of its founder is close to becoming reality: Avanchair, which has joined the LifeGate Way ecosystem — the group's subsidiary with the aim of creating a network of sustainable startups focused on open innovation — has launched a fundraising campaign on the Eppela platform, aiming to reach the sum of 130,000 euros needed for the development of the prototype.
The story of Avanchair began nine years ago, when Depalo, who has tetraplegia, set about imagining a wheelchair that could fulfil his desire for autonomy and independence — "every person with a disability cannot move from the wheelchair that supports them and therefore always needs the help of others to go anywhere: to bed, to the bathroom, to the sofa or to the table" — to compensate, at least in part, for the disability that has limited his motor capacity since birth.
Depalo has a clear vision, but it is only with the help of Emilio Rigolio, an entrepreneur in the mechanical and automation sector, that the project begins to take shape. Shortly afterwards, Giovanni Nannini — the technician who starts working to realise the solutions envisioned by Depalo and drawn up by Rigolio — and Roberta Rigolio, Emilio's daughter and a biomedical researcher, also join the team. It is 2019, and the four of them found Avanchair, an entrepreneurial venture with high social impact whose objective is to significantly improve the quality of life of those people who need to use a wheelchair for a shorter or longer period of time.
This gives rise to the idea of a new product that differs from other electrically powered wheelchairs already on the market through its capacity to facilitate movement and its readiness for digital health monitoring of the user. An important step forward in favour of social inclusion and innovation applied to health, as well as to sustainable development and the environment: Avanchair in fact aims to make use of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure of smart cities through a dedicated app and the use of rechargeable lithium batteries that make it possible to use the wheelchair for extended periods.
To make Depalo's dream a reality, Avanchair launched a crowdfunding campaign on 4 May on the Eppela platform, aiming to raise 130,000 euros needed to begin production by 2022 of a next-generation wheelchair that enables not only the vertical and horizontal movement of the person using it, but also autonomous transfer to other surfaces, vital signs monitoring through the use of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, and support for remote assistance operations through integration with existing e-health platforms.
And so as not to overlook any aspect, it is also possible to personalise the wheelchair according to different needs, age and even personal taste. Important partners, including Enel and Banco BPM, also believe in the project and are taking part in the fundraising.
