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Touchpulse wins €50,000 at AI Pitch Competition with Navis, a navigation app for the visually impaired
Dembrane won €35,000 as the runner-up in the AI Pitch Competition. Their groundbreaking tool is designed to gather and structure knowledge from large groups
Touchpulse took home the top prize of €50,000 at the AI Pitch Competition, thanks to their innovative navigation app, Navis, designed specifically for visually impaired users. The app, which promises to revolutionize how visually impaired individuals navigate cities, stood out in a field of nine AI startups for its empathetic approach and practical impact. The finals were part of the AI Summit Brainport, held in the Evoluon on Thursday, November 7.
Touchpulse’s mission with Navis is twofold: enhancing independence and increasing safety for users navigating urban environments. “With Navis, our users gain greater autonomy, helping them reduce anxiety and stress while traveling,” the team explained. Already, 57 visually impaired individuals have signed up to test and provide feedback on the app, underscoring the need for this specialized solution.
Navis goes beyond traditional navigation tools like Google Maps by offering features uniquely suited to the visually impaired. Instead of providing typical, distant directions like “turn right in 400 meters,” Navis gives step-by-step instructions, which users can physically register as they walk. This ensures precision and minimizes confusion in busy urban areas. Additionally, the app’s personalization features allow for tailored guidance based on individual needs and frequently traveled routes.
Community support and expert collaboration are central to Touchpulse’s strategy to ensure widespread adoption. As building brand visibility in the app store can be challenging, Touchpulse is partnering with specialized organizations, such as Bartiméus and Vizio, and pursuing relationships with health insurers and municipalities. They aim to make Navis free to users by securing funding from these stakeholders.
For Touchpulse, the journey with Navis has been transformative. The team described the initial challenge of designing for needs they hadn’t personally experienced. However, user interactions and real-world testing of their MVP made an emotional impact. One memorable experience involved a visually impaired husband finally feeling able to navigate independently without relying on his spouse. “For him, that was the true value of Navis: the promise of independence,” the team shared.
Winning the €50,000 prize marks a major milestone for Touchpulse, paving the way to further develop Navis. With beta testing underway, they plan a full rollout by the summer of 2025. “We aim to provide a supportive ‘shoulder’ for those who walk alone.”
Dembrane Secures €35,000
Dembrane won €35,000 as the runner-up in the AI Pitch Competition. Their groundbreaking tool is designed to gather and structure knowledge from large groups, enabling organizations to capture and act on insights from diverse audiences. Known as a “democratic AI learning loop,” Dembrane’s platform learns and grows with each interaction, empowering communities to engage in impactful discussions at scale.
Evelien Nieuwenburg’s pitch highlighted the challenge of meaningful dialogue in large groups, which can become chaotic or leave voices unheard. “Imagine if everyone here wanted to decide how AI should be implemented in the region. It’s impossible to capture every viewpoint with traditional methods,” she explained. Dembrane’s AI technology simplifies this process, allowing conversations to flow freely and insights to be structured efficiently, without endless post-its, surveys, and manual summaries.
Already in use by public organizations, Dembrane has documented events like citizen assemblies in Brabant, capturing valuable input while saving organizers hours of report preparation. Beyond local initiatives, Dembrane is collaborating internationally, including on peacekeeping efforts in Northern Ireland.
The tool’s unique clustering algorithm preserves minority voices, ensuring even uncommon perspectives are retained. Privacy is also prioritized, with anonymization steps to protect participant identities.
Brabant
The province of Brabant, the main sponsor of the Pitch Competition, is happy with the results. Martijn van Gruijthuijsen: “In Brabant, we invent the smartest solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Startups play an important role in the innovative power of our region, with unconventional ideas and the bravado to try new things. A perfect combination with a disruptive technology like AI. The ideas from this AI Pitch Competition are an excellent example of this. I hope we are going to hear a lot more from these talents, inside and outside of Brabant.”