Thinking about the needs of the elderly, Bleta is a tablet that offers a simple and intuitive system with larger icons. In addition, it allows special configurations for people who have hearing, visual, cognitive or physical difficulties.
the startup Eways presents Bleta, the tablet with an intuitive operating system, simplified and adapted to the elderly, with larger icons and the possibility of configuring it for those who have difficulties of various kinds. In addition, it can connect to the Internet with WiFi and 4G data, it can make calls to phones with a SIM card and through WhatsApp and includes all the necessary accessories.
This project received various awards during 2021, such as the First Prize in Social Entrepreneurship of Barcelona Activahe donaTIC award or the Scale Up Women. And she has billed more than 50,000 euros in less than a year of life.
The Bleta tablet incorporates larger and more intuitive icons to facilitate its use by the elderly
blet It emerged as a project in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Five students from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) created the startup Eways, a company that aimed to recycle electronic waste in a circular economy. However, the restrictions of the pandemic cut short this idea and they decided to confine themselves all together in a rural house to continue working on a project that would later evolve into what it is today.
Initiative #Acércales
In this context, Xavi Gisbertresponsible for communication at Bleta, explains that “During the hardest weeks of the first wave, we saw how many older people admitted to health centers or isolated in residences could not speak with their families. They conveyed to us, from various areas, the need to be able to have tablets and smartphones so they could get in touch and see their families. And so we start #close them”.
#Acércales was a voluntary initiative with which distributed more than 650 devices to 54 centers to connect isolated people with their families. The devices, which they repaired and refurbished, came from a campaign to donate obsolete devices.
Bleta is a device adapted to the needs of the elderly that contributes to bridging the digital divide
Thanks to this project, they received the Youth Action Award 2020 for projects developed on the occasion of Covid-19, granted by the Baix Ebre Regional Council. In addition, thanks to this initiative, they discovered what were the real needs of the elderlysuch as the need to have bigger letters, louder sounds, simpler systems to use etc
In this way, they opted for a project that would break with the suffered by many older people. From this idea was born the a device adapted to the needs of the elderly and that aims to “reduce your frustration in using the tablet”. The project became the company Bleta Solutions in July 2021, and has already invoiced more than 50,000 euros to date, a figure they claim “multiply by 5 this year”, it states Gerard Pinar, COO of Bleta.
Bleta is defined as a app launcher specially designed for seniors, with larger icons and an intuitive user experience so that they learn to use it easily. It offers a program that supports the six most common applications such as WhatsApp, Browser, Youtube or memory and entertainment games, and that can be change to suit the needs of each user. In addition, the other apps that are added from the Google Play Store are organized in a Menu by Categories.