Video
Please find the English video of the event on our YouTube Channel.
Event
Zero Project Conference 2026 Parliament Event – Inclusive innovations for Austria
Content
Since 2020, the Zero Project, an initiative of the Essl Foundation, has organized an annual event together with the Austrian Parliament to promote dialogue on inclusion with key decision-makers and opinion leaders from politics, civil society, business, media, and academia. Since 2023, the event has taken place in the historic parliament building, which is now largely barrier-free following extensive renovations.
The event drew on a selection of award-winning innovations identified by the Zero Project: 75 innovative solutions and 7 inclusive arts initiatives from 51 countries. Through an extensive multi-step process involving more than 400 international experts, these projects were recognized for their innovation, impact, and scalability. The Zero Project Conference builds on this process and provides a stage to innovators to share their projects with a global expert audience.
One parliamentarian from each party represented in parliament selected a project. These five projects were presented at the event to opinion leaders from civil society, advocacy groups, business, and politics. The parliamentarians also committed to supporting the selected innovations as much as possible during their implementation in Austria.
Program
Welcome Address
Walter Rosenkranz
President of the National Council
Greetings
Martin Essl
Founder of the Essl Foundation and the Zero Project
Keynote Speech
Anthony Banbury
President and Chief Executive Officer of the
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Presentation of Innovative Solutions
- Inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities in public hospitals
Christian Ragger
Member of Parliament, FPÖ
Daniel Clavero
Fundaciòn Personas, Spain
- An AI-powered app enabling people living with ALS communicate in their own voice
Heide Eder
Member of Parliament, ÖVP
David Betts,
Mundell Design, USA
- Cross-sector partnerships for healthcare access of patients with intellectual disabilities
Verena Nussbaum
Member of Parliament, SPÖ
Alicia Gomez Campos and Roberto Zanon
European Platform for Rehabilitation, Belgium
- Making the national emergency telephone line useable for non-verbal communication
Fiona Fiedler
Member of Parliament, NEOS
Becca Hume
Inclutech Ltd., Großbritannien
- Free speech therapy tool for children using games and music
Ralph Schallmeiner
Member of Parliament, Grüne
Marina Cupic
Solutaria Doo, Montenegro
Readings
Maria Hofstätter
Actress
Gregor Seberg
Actor
Final Remarks
Markus Stotter
President of the Federal Council
Drinks Reception
Moderation
Andreas Onea
Para Swimmer and Presenter
The Parliamentary Administration organised this event in cooperation with the Essl Foundation. We would like to point out that any funding providers or sponsors of the Essl Foundation did not provide any services to Parliament or the Parliamentary Administration and that Parliament and the Parliamentary Administration was not involved in raising such.
Important information
Our Service page contains everything you need to know about entering the Parliament Building along with information on accessibility. Once you have sent us the registration form, no further action needs to be taken. Our Visitor Information page contains further information.
Our Privacy Policy contains useful information on data privacy and on how we process personal information. This event is recorded on audio and/or visual media to be made available to the public as part of Parliament’s public relations and outreach efforts. In doing so, Parliament works with contractual partners and makes the recordings available to them for further use in compliance with the applicable legal provisions. This would not be possible without the cession of rights by all participants. Therefore, by participating in this event, you agree to the following:
I hereby grant the Republic of Austria – Federal Government, represented by the Parliamentary Administration, the geographically and temporally unlimited right to use any of my remarks or performances as well as any recordings made thereof. This includes the transferable right to reproduce, disseminate, transmit, publicly broadcast and publish these works also in their translated form in part or in full.