Impacts

Project @pple has already achieved impact with accessibility guidelines at the W3C WAI, which will be consolidated when 'personas' are published through this and other channels. Associated consultancy work has resulted from the reputation established through this project with the BBC, Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and the West Midlands consortium of Learning Disability Partnership Boards.

The Rix Centre at UEL has promoted Project @pple outcomes across its UK learning disability network and successfully raised private sponsorship for continuity of the trial in the West Midlands beyond the PACCIT funded phase and its extension through a borough-wide pilot in Newham, East London, with adult social care and education providers. A Web Portal for professionals, people with learning disabilities and their families is to be developed with SCIE and will implement project findings to tackle accessible information provision and service-user participation. Mencap are also exploring potential matching of the LE with their wider educational product set and further development potential for Trans-active, to be informed by insight gained through the project.

Commercial exploitation centres on work by Xtensis to engage accreditation bodies, SEN content suppliers, regional broadband consortia and Local Authorities as potential partners, customers and investors for the emerging product package. Current negotiation centres on Edexcel interest in co-marketing the LE to possible clients for further collaborative development, a prospect made all the more appealing by the risk reduction made possible through PACCIT's initial investment in the product development.

It is of note that all parties in the Consortium remain in dialogue, with real potential for further collaboration on this set of possible further activities, bearing testimony to the beneficial effect of the LINK programme to provide a site for the growth of viable cross-sector partnership.