[Irl-dean] Centre for Excellence

[Mark Magennis]

> The other thing that would be good is research on the accessibility
> implications of new technologies before they are introduced. 

An excellent suggestion Henry. It is so important to be ahead of the
game to avoid decisions being made early making it difficult or
impossible to "bolt on" accessibility later.

Maybe the Centre could have a unit dedicated to predicting which
technology changes will be likely to impact most in the future and at
least making recommendations for research and action. Even if the Centre
does not undertake the research itself, this would be very valuable. The
actual research and action could be done by others and funded under
exisiting funding schemes such as EDS and eInclusion or new funding
schemes dedicated to more future-looking research. Although commercial
consultants wouldn't necessarily want to go for those grants and do the
research, plenty of other organisations would - CFIT, Work Research
Centre, Universities, etc.

Mark