The Valencian Community: space for social change
In recent years the Valencian Community has become a reference space in the field of innovation and social entrepreneurship. There are multiple and diverse initiatives that practice another type of company. Sustainable, scalable initiatives with a positive social impact.
Social entrepreneurship is the tool, increasingly used, to achieve the necessary change in society. Today there are many examples in the Spanish state that illustrate that another world is happening, despite being a sector without sufficient support. And many of these have been born in the Valencian Community, some of them already have a relevant international projection.
Visualfy is a startup with more than 10 years of experience working in the field of accessible technology. Its ultimate goal: to improve the social inclusion of deaf people. In 2013 they launched an app that allowed hearing impaired users to receive visual notifications of all alerts from phones, tablets and other devices. Since then it has not stopped growing exponentially.
In Spain there are more than one million people affected by deafness or some kind of hearing difficulty. Visualfy’s work is focused on improving your quality of life.
Mamás en acción is an association born in 2013 and dedicated to accompanying children. It coordinates people (not just mothers and fathers) to accompany and give affection to children who do not have parents or who can not, for whatever reasons, live with them. It is about being with them at times when they should not be alone, such as a hospital admission. In Spain there are 43,000 children under the guardianship of the administration, specifically in Valencia, there are 3,975 children in this situation. From this association they work to face this social reality. In a few years they have gone from 20 to 1,200 volunteers.
FoodRation4All is an initiative that frames all its actions within the framework of food. Nadie sin su ración diaria is one of their main social awareness projects that aims to improve the current system of food donations and social integration of people who are in vulnerable situations. The young team behind the initiative is committed to the digital transformation of the current system and to improving the experience of the donor. Its application this year has served to alleviate the economic and social effects caused by the pandemic Covid-19 health crisis. Through this they have created a solidarity network through the technology, to finally establish an effective and agile model of virtual donations with which food banks have been able to strengthen their collection campaigns.
Orbital Eos is a Valencian business that uses satellite images and Artificial Intelligence Technology to detect hydrocarbons in the sea. This company, founded in 2019, through the images provided free by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), can detect contamination of the planet’s seas and oceans. Orbital Eos is aimed at companies responsible for responding to a spill at sea and also they are in contact with the public authorities such as, for example, the environmental agency of Abu Dhabi, Scotland and Interpol. Nowadays, in the midst of a climate emergency, their action brings essential value to conserve out marine ecosystem.
