Here we showcase a sample of our transformative social impact projects, the lives impacted and the communities changed for the better.
Stories of Impact
SWAMSapp
UTS Rapido provided User Experience (UX) and software development expertise to Professor Christopher Lawrence, Monash University, to research and implement this first Indigenous medical support app for South West Aboriginal Medical Service (SWAMS).
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Aboriginal communities require healthcare providers to consider their cultural and societal needs around gender and ceremonial practices in order to provide appropriate and timely healthcare services.
UTS Rapido provided User Experience (UX) and software development expertise to Professor Christopher Lawrence, Monash University, to research and implement this first Indigenous medical support app for South West Aboriginal Medical Service (SWAMS).
It provides improvement to health services with:
- culturally and gender safe spaces such as directing males healthcare services to male patients and female healthcare workers for female patients.
- addressing ceremonial practices as well as shame factors that often impinge on self-healthcare amongst Indigenous groups. More here.
Need | Innovation | Project outcome |
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To develop software for a sensitive Indigenous medical app with culturally and gender safe spaces. | Custom cross-platform mobile and web applications with Google Cloud hosting. Utilised Firestore database and rewrote mobile app in React-Native. Revamped UI and added new functionality. | Reduced costs for external parties, improved health service delivery, and safe spaces for transient complex communities, including cultural and gender considerations. |
#thismymob
A groundbreaking mobile app connecting Indigenous People digitally. Developed in collaboration with Professor Christopher Lawrence and the Centre for Indigenous Technology Research and Development, this app revolutionises social connection for previously fragmented communities, providing a safe online space for Indigenous people.
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#thismymob facilitates vital connections between communities and government/industry organisations, enabling access to essential social services information and entrepreneurship opportunities in remote areas.
The one-of-a-kind digital platform means Indigenous communities can now engage in real-time social interaction while receiving timely information from government and corporate organisations.
UTS Rapido helped craft community-specific newsfeeds and gender-specific spaces to foster cultural discussions and strengthen the bond between Indigenous land and peoples. More here.
Need | Innovation | Project outcome |
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Indigenous communities faced social fragmentation and lacked a safe online space for connection. | A groundbreaking mobile app connecting Indigenous People digitally. Developed in collaboration with Professor Christopher Lawrence and the Centre for Indigenous Technology Research and Development. | A real-time Indigenous community platform for social interaction, disseminated public notices, improved access to essential services and entrepreneurial opportunities. Fostering cultural discussions, community engagement and a strengthened bond between Indigenous land and Peoples. |
StreetKind
A customised digital safety solution for the Stay Kind Foundation, now utilised and developed further by StreetKind to help promote pro-social behaviours and enhance harm prevention efforts in Sydney's nightlife.
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StreetKind needed a comprehensive system to collect and analyse specific harm prevention data in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their street safety initiative.
The StreetKind app replaces paper-based reporting and workflows with a digital, cloud-enhanced solution, creating significant efficiencies in the harm prevention space. The app allows central collection, easier searchability and reporting of specific harm prevention data sets. These data sets can be searched and reported on by date range, demographics, and/or specific elements of harm prevention.
The dashboard provides an instant impact statement that informs and inspires the team and is available live to the public. Stakeholder reporting is now centralised and available in real-time. More here.
Need | Innovation | Project outcome |
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Streamline data collection and reporting to ensure efficient operations and data management in the harm prevention space. | Developed the StreetKind app to replace paper-based reporting and workflows with a digital, cloud-enhanced solution, allowing central collection, easier searchability and reporting of harm prevention data sets. | Over 37,000 individuals supported and event data collected since the app's inception. Collection of impact statements and monitoring of program effectiveness, usage and trends with a real-time dashboard reporting impact to all stakeholders. |
Gender Legislative Index
Dr. Ramona Vijeyarasa from UTS Law, in collaboration with Rapido Social Impact and the Connected Intelligence Centre (CIC) at UTS, developed an analytic tool called the Gender Legislative Index (GLI) to benchmark, score and rank laws on a scale from gender regressive to gender responsive.
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Despite progress in advancing gender equality, disparities and discrimination against women persist in various aspects of society.
The GLI includes a set of international women’s rights standards that countries are required to meet, concrete benchmarks for particular areas of law, and a way to compare legislative progress across countries and over periods of time. Dr. Vijeyarasa piloted the GLI in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines to analyse areas of law including gender-based violence, labour, reproductive health, taxation and family law. The GLI has been used as a research tool to assess the legislative footprint of women leaders, providing insights into the impact of their tenure on gender-responsive legislation.
The Gender Legislative Index is a unique collaboration between law and data science that is playing an important role in advancing and ensuring gender equality in legislation. More here.
Need | Innovation | Project outcome |
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To uphold women’s rights when drafting legislation; whether the laws address domestic violence or set out the rules for tax or finance. | AI powered heat-map visualisations to show a meaningful aggregation of the different parts of each law’s evaluation by each evaluator; and an algorithm to calculate the overall rankings. | The Gender Legislative Index (GLI) – an analytic tool used to benchmark, score and rank laws on a scale from gender regressive to gender responsive. |
AbilityMade
Rapido Social Impact collaborated with UTS ProtoSpace and AbilityMade to create 3D printed Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs) for refugee children, reducing the turnaround time from 4 weeks to just 48 hours.
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With a global shortage of orthotists, approximately 100 million children are in need of Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs). The traditional process of creating plaster cast orthotics is slow, messy and traumatic.
Rapido Social Impact and AbilityMade helped revolutionise Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs) production for children with disabilities.
This innovative approach prioritised user comfort and also eliminated the need for plaster. This new disruptive 3D printing method enhanced efficiency in creating customised AFOs.
This collaboration also demonstrates the transformative potential of technology in improving the lives of individuals with disabilities, enhancing mobility and overall well-being. More here.
Need | Innovation | Project outcome |
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A comfortable ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) solution, with faster production and a less traumatic process for recently arriving refugees with disabilities. | Using advanced technology, comfortable, plaster-free, 3D printed AFOs made from a bio-compatible material were created with drastically reduced production times-from 4 weeks to 48 hours. | The breakthrough approach improved mobility and well-being, empowering refugee children with physical disabilities to walk with ease and confidence. This successful collaboration enabled a community solution to be rolled out quickly. |
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