UNION EUROPEENNE DES AVEUGLES

Their core work

The European Blind Union (EBU) is the pan-European federation representing the interests of blind and visually impaired people through member associations across more than 40 countries. As the EU-recognized umbrella body for national blindness organizations, EBU shapes European legislation, accessibility standards, and inclusive design policy on behalf of an estimated 30 million visually impaired Europeans. In EU research projects, they serve as the authoritative voice of the visually impaired user community — providing lived-experience insight, user testing access, and policy-grounded recommendations that no research institute can generate on its own. Their participation gives consortia credible user representation, routes to national member networks for dissemination and validation, and direct channels into EU-level disability policy processes.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

EBU's H2020 engagement began in the ICT space with PRO4VIP (2015-2016), focusing on accessible digital procurement and the digital rights of visually impaired users — consistent with their long-running work on EU accessibility legislation. By 2019 their project participation had shifted to transport and mobility, specifically the societal and user-acceptance dimensions of connected and autonomous vehicles for people with visual impairments. This reflects a deliberate broadening of their advocacy scope, tracking EU policy priorities as autonomous mobility moved up the regulatory agenda.

EBU is moving from digital accessibility advocacy into mobility and transport technology, making them a relevant partner for any project that requires disability-inclusive design of future transport or connected mobility systems.

How they like to work

EBU participates exclusively as a consortium partner and has never led a project as coordinator, which reflects their role as a specialist contributor rather than a research driver. Their two projects collectively involved 25 unique partners across 8 countries, showing they are comfortable operating inside large, multi-partner EU consortia typical of ICT and transport calls. Partners should expect EBU to provide user community access, policy guidance, and dissemination reach to the visually impaired population — not technical research leadership.

In just two projects EBU has worked alongside 25 unique consortium partners spread across 8 countries, reflecting the broad international consortia common in ICT and transport research areas. Their network is concentrated in Western and Northern Europe, consistent with where their strongest national member associations are based.

What sets them apart

EBU holds a position no research institute or consultancy can replicate: politically recognized, pan-European representation of the visually impaired population, with direct access to national member organizations in over 40 countries for user testing, ethics validation, and dissemination. Bringing EBU into a consortium signals genuine disability-inclusive design rather than token compliance, which increasingly matters for EU funding reviewers assessing societal impact. For projects in transport, digital services, or any domain that touches accessibility regulation, their involvement is both a credibility asset and a practical route to the end-user community.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PAsCAL
  The largest project by funding (EUR 105,369, 2019-2022) placed EBU inside a cutting-edge autonomous vehicles consortium, signalling a strategic expansion well beyond their traditional digital accessibility stronghold.
• PRO4VIP
  Addressed the intersection of EU public procurement law and disability inclusion — a policy-critical niche that leveraged EBU's unique standing as an EU-recognized advocacy federation.