IBZ is giving the spotlight to another incredible team of changemakers from the Hack the World: Analyze & Design – RecAbility! Founded by Swaraj Bhowmick, RecAbility focuses on creating accessible recreational tools to assist individuals with limited mobility and dexterity in their athletic pursuits.
Inspired by his upbringing playing adaptive floor hockey, RecAbility’s founder, Swaraj Bhowmick, began the startup to support people with limited mobility and dexterity in their athletic pursuits. With RecAbility, Swaraj and his team aim to fill the gap that exists in the sports and recreation market. By creating everyday recreational products, the company seeks to make sports and recreation more accessible.
The notion of the everyday user is a leading value of RecAbility. Swaraj explains that parasports may be viewed as an opportunity for physical engagement for those with limited mobility. However, he emphasizes that despite their popularity in the wider media, parasports are not a realistic endeavour for most wheelchair users, who do not have the upper-body strength necessary to participate in such a mode of athleticism. As a result, Swaraj aims to create opportunities for the disabled community to engage in exciting physical activities in their day-to-day lives.
One of the first steps in working towards this goal is the company’s current project: prototyping of an accessible ball thrower and retriever, designed for wheelchair users. This first-of-its-kind innovation is designed to help remove barriers and empower people to play fetch with their dogs independently. Even in its early stages, RecAbility appeals to a wide variety of stakeholders, including consumers, rehabilitation centres, hospitals, and governmental institutions, all of which can benefit from the production of accessible recreational devices.
Swaraj and his team have found continued motivation in this endeavour by working with other entrepreneurs through IBZ’s Hack the World: Analyze & Design program. This seven-week intensive incubation program provided the RecAbility team with the support and resources needed to develop their idea and bring it closer to market. Developed with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in mind, RecAbility’s ball-thrower aims to address global challenges regarding good health and well-being (Goal 3) and reduced inequality (Goal 10).
TMU’s Innovation Boost Zone (IBZ), Social Ventures Zone (SVZ), and Ted Rogers School of Management continue to support RecAbility as the startup works to establish itself as a leader in creating accessible sport and recreation opportunities. As a winner of the 2024 Slaight New Venture competition, RecAbility received $25,000 to work towards business development.
If, like Swaraj, you have a game-changing idea that tackles current issues, be sure to check out the Innovation Boost Zone to learn how you can gain support to turn this dream into reality.
Hack the World: Analyze & Design was the second program in a series of three innovative experiential learning opportunities hosted by Innovation Boost Zone. In this phase, four student-led teams from TMU engaged with their stakeholders and worked with field experts to gain new insights and deliver a product or service to provide solutions to real-world problems. This hackathon provided students with a clear runway to success, bolstering them to evaluate and test their ideas and make a positive impact.
