Until about 200 years ago, reading and writing were purely analog activities based on line patterns. It was Louis Braille who first established a digital writing system made of discrete dots named after him.

However, today blind people, especially those in African countries, are often excluded from the digital world because Western Braille hardware is expensive and fragile. This has created a discriminatory Western monopoly that must be broken.

TETRAGON’s Braille display technologies represent significant design simplifications over existing products. In order to now make these technologies available to as many blind people as possible around the world, a radically new manufacturing and distribution model must be developed in close cooperation with partners in non-Western countries.

TETRAGON provides these partners with components, plans and know-how at cost price (less than 10% of the price of the finished device). By assembling, distributing and maintaining the devices in their own country, they will be able to offer Braille technology at prices in line with local standards.

TETRAGON, on the other hand, will serve Western markets and will benefit from lower component costs due to economy of scale.

A pilot project with partners in Africa is currently in progress.

The development of this new distribution concept is partly funded and supported by the Vienna Business Agency and Eureka (Innowwide).