About Sight Tech Global
Shaping Emerging Technologies to Create a More Accessible World for People with Blindness and Visual Impairments
Sight Tech Global is a world-wide, virtual conference dedicated to bringing together the technology pioneers who are applying the latest technology advances to barrier-free navigation, human interaction, and low-friction access to information for people who are blind or visually impaired. Sight Tech Global is committed to the proposition, “Nothing about us without us,” and accordingly people with sight loss and blindness will be engaged in all phases of the event. Sight Tech Global is a production of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Ned Desmond is the founder of Sight Tech Global and its executive producer. Sight Tech Global’s advisors include
- Jim Fruchterman (Benetech)
- Matt King (Facebook)
- Larry Goldberg (Verizon Media)
- Professor Roberto Manduchi (UC Santa Cruz)
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is the owner of Sight Tech Global, and Karae Lisle, executive director of the Vista Center, is chair of Sight Tech Global.
The next Sight Tech Global event will be held in December 2023. The first Sight Tech Global event was held on Dec. 2-3, 2020.
All sessions from every event are available on-demand on the agenda section of this site.
We live in a world where a computer can drive a car at 70 MPH without human assistance but there is not yet any comparable capability to help a blind person walk down a sidewalk at 3 MPH. A social media site can identify billions of people in an instant but a blind person can’t readily identify the person standing in front of them. Today’s powerful technologies, many of them grounded in AI, have yet to be milled into next-generation tools that are truly useful, happily embraced and widely affordable.
Vista Center
Silicon Valley’s Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired 501(c)(3)
- 75-years as a non-profit serving thousands of persons who are blind or visually impaired through evaluation, counseling, education and training in Silicon Valley and the surrounding area.
- Committed to developing thought leadership through the establishment of Sight Tech Global.
- Consultant to Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon and Google on usability for those who are blind or have low vision.
- 100% funded by public grants and private, charitable contributions.
2023 Sponsors
2023 Production Partners
