Renzo Andrich

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I got my MSc degree in Electric Engineering at Padua University in 1979. After my twenty-months civilian service (alternative to military service) – in which I worked for organizations of people with disabilities in my province – and a brief work experience as software engineer at Zollet Engineering in Belluno, in October 1981 I started working at the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation in Milano, one of the largest private non-for-profit organizations in Italy providing care and rehabilitation service to people with disabilities and elderly people.

At the Don Gnocchi Foundation, I worked for over 37 years, as responsible of research and innovation programmes in assistive technology. My career is closely linked to the history of SIVA (Assistive Technology Information and Assessment Service): I collaborated to its foundation, led it for over twenty years (at that time it was a single Unit within the Clinical and Research Centre “S.Maria Nascente in Milan), and eventually coordinated it after it evolved into a network of assistive technology assessment centres throughout Italy.

Over the years, the SIVA activity has gradually developed into four action lines: 1) disseminating information on available assistive products (especially through the SIVA Portal, which is currently the main information resource for people with disabilities, professionals and companies in Italy); 2) supporting people with disabilities to help find the most effective and appropriate assistive solutions to their individual needs; 3) providing assistive technology education to professionals, through courses, seminars and training material; and 4) research and development projects, through which the Foundation has been for many years among the protagonists at international level in scientific and technological innovation in the sector.

In this long journey I have had the opportunity to participate in research and development projects at local (with Regions, Companies, Foundations), national (Ministry of Health, Labour, Education, National Research Council) and international level (European Commission, United Nations, WHO), often serving as project leader. I participated in various technical commissions and scientific societies and chaired the AAATE (Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe) for two years. Currently I am chairing the EASTIN Network (“The Global Assistive Technology Information Network”) – the international network of information on assistive technologies that I helped found in 2006.

Teaching activities have been a substantial part of my professional career. For a few years, I had an appointment as adjunct professor at the Catholic University of Milan. For 12 years I was the scientific responsible of a Post-Graduate Course on Assistive Technology, jointly organized by the Catholic University and the Don Gnocchi Foundation; after 2012 this course evolved into a Higher Education Course with the Italian ECM scheme (continuous education for health professionals).

In parallel to this professional path, my interest in the disability field has also involved my engagement in voluntary social activities. I approached this world since I was a university student, when I started collaborating in various associations: ANFFAS (the National Association of Families of people with intellectual and relational disabilities), UILDM (the National Muscular Dystrophy Association), Comitato d’Intesa (the coordinating Body of the voluntary Associations of the Province of Belluno, which I am among the founders of) and Centro Studi Prisma (an interdisciplinary Study Centre on disability, known for its 17 editions of the residential courses of Independent Living Education, held since 1985 to 2000 and attended by of people with disabilities from all over Italy and also from abroad). This parallel path was a precious opportunity to look at the world of disability also with other eyes than just the professional ones.

After my long collaboration with the Don Gnocchi Foundation concluded at the end of 2018, I started working as a freelancer, based in my beautiful hometown (Belluno, in the Dolomites area), still in the assistive technology field. I am currently engaged in teaching activities and research projects; I continue chairing the EASTIN Network; I collaborate with the GATE (Global Collaboration on Assistive Technology) initiative of the World Health Organization; I participate in the AAATE; I am the scientific director of a Higher Education Course on Assistive Technology promoted by La Nostra Famiglia Association in Conegliano (Veneto Region).

Well… let’s keep going, we do not stop!