Our Romanian company Ascendia S.A. (developer of the LIVRESQ platform), the first e-learning company traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, with a deep experience in e-learning software development, is now included in the Microsoft AI for Accessibility Global Hall of Fame. It is a huge honor because "we are one of the 3 education companies worldwide included in the Microsoft AI for Accessibility Hall of Fame and the only one in Europe!", according to Florentina Marilena Ionașcu - Education Director at Microsoft.
AI for Accessibility is a Microsoft program dedicated to empowering people living with disabilities. Microsoft's AI for Accessibility program uses artificial intelligence (AI) to empower more than one billion people with disabilities worldwide.
"Disabilities can be permanent, temporary or situational. By innovating for people with disabilities, we innovate for all of us. By ensuring that technology delivers on its promise to meet society's broadest needs, we can empower everyone - not just people with disabilities - to achieve more," says Brad Smith - President and Vice President at Microsoft.
Microsoft's awarding of our company to the AI for Accessibility Hall of Fame in the Education segment is due to the LIVRESQ educational content creation platform, which helps children in Romania access online lessons at a time when access to education, at least in rural areas, is difficult.
A system-wide change to encourage the transition to digital learning in Romania is urgently needed in the face of a lack of infrastructure and skills in the country, especially in rural areas. In a market survey conducted by the European Commission in 2020, 60% of respondents in Romania said they had never used online learning tools before the pandemic moved everything online. Confirming this story, Romania ranked 26th out of 28 in the Digital Economy and Society Index 2020.
This is where our company can draw on its expertise with LIVRESQ, which is already used by more than 30,000 teachers in over 6,200 educational institutions in Romania and the Republic of Moldova to develop interactive online lessons using a variety of interactive templates and content elements. These 30,000 will soon be joined by another 140,000 (estimated) teachers as part of the local national project (Edulib) in less than 1 year.
The LIVRESQ library is now the largest online library of digital educational resources in Romania - over 15,400 materials launched, of which 4695 are public.
"We thank Microsoft for our inclusion in this Hall of Fame and promise to continue working to improve the lives of people with disabilities", concludes Alex Malureanu - co-founder and CMO of Ascendia.