Graz-based social enterprise capito awarded the Financial Inclusion Award 2022 for its app at the Zero Project Conference 2022

Graz-based social enterprise capito awarded the Financial Inclusion Award 2022 for its app at the Zero Project Conference 2022

(PRESS RELEASE) VIENNA, 28-Feb-2022 — /EuropaWire/ — UniCredit Bank Austria AG, an Austrian bank majority owned by UniCredit Group, has announced that the Financial Inclusion Award 2022 has been given to Graz-based social enterprise capito, market leader in the field of “easy language”, for its app at the Zero Project Conference 2022. UniCredit Bank Austria has supported the Zero Project from the very beginning and, as a sponsoring partner of the Zero Project Conference, plays a leading role in the presentation of the Financial Inclusion Award.

Robert Zadrazil, CEO of UniCredit Bank Austria, on the Financial Inclusion Award, which was presented last week in Vienna as part of the Zero Project Conference 2022, the world’s largest specialist conference on inclusion and accessibility: “Our bank is a pioneer on the path to an inclusive and barrier-free society with full conviction. The Financial Inclusion Award for the capito App for Easy Language is a well-deserved award and recognition for the highly competent, internationally successful social enterprise capito. In cooperation with capito, we have been translating part of our website into ‘easy language’ for many years. People with learning disabilities depend on this special offer, as well as on contracts and documents in ‘easy language’, which our bank also offers. At the same time, we also make life easier for people whose mother tongue is not German.”

Martin Essl, founder of the Essl Foundation and the Zero Project: “We would like to express our sincere thanks for the long-standing cooperation with UniCredit Bank Austria and are pleased that we were able to provide a setting for the Financial Inclusion Award with the Zero Project Conference 2022 on the topic of accessibility. This award creates an important incentive for inclusive financial services to be created for all people with disabilities.”

Paul Anton Mayer, Chief Digital Officer & Manager of capito, on receiving the Financial Inclusion Award 2022 for the capito App for Easy Language: “We are very pleased to receive this award and would like to thank the Zero Project and UniCredit Bank Austria. ‘Financial Literacy’ means understanding how to manage our money well. The topic concerns all people equally. With the capito App for Easy Language, we are making a contribution to ensuring that we can all make good financial decisions. We are very proud of that!”

About capito
“Understanding is the basis for a self-determined life” – this is the guiding principle of the Graz-based company capito. More than 20 years ago, capito was founded by Walburga Fröhlich and Klaus Candussi. Since then, capito has established itself as the market leader in the field of easy language. With this expertise, capito focuses on the development of digital solutions for language simplification.

This includes the capito app. In the app, users can read texts at the appropriate level of difficulty, from the original text to the very easy-to-understand language level A1. The capito app is successfully used in various areas. These include, for example, banks, municipalities, museums, insurance companies and educational institutions.

capito is currently working on capito digital, an AI-based writing assistance. The artificial intelligence of capito digital supports people in writing texts in a more comprehensible way. With the help of capito digital, texts can be simplified quickly and cost-effectively and thus made available to as many people as possible.

capito is considered one of the most successful social businesses in Europe. As such, capito was awarded one of the EU Commission’s most exclusive grants, the EIC Accelerator, last year. In addition, capito is part of the flagship initiative of the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse. The capito network comprises around 80 locations in the German-speaking world. An expansion of the offer into the English, French, Spanish and Italian language areas is planned for the next few years.

For more information on UniCredit Bank Austria’s commitment to accessibility and inclusion, visit (in German) https://www.bankaustria.at/barrierefrei/index.jsp

Further information on the Zero Project can be found at https://zeroproject.org

You can find more information about capito at https://www.capito.eu

Media contacts:

UniCredit Bank Austria Press Office
Matthias Raftl, tel. +43 (0)5 05 05-52809;
E-mail: matthias.raftl@unicreditgroup.at

Zero Project, Communications
Judith Hermetter, tel. +43 664 5377162;
E-mail: j.hermetter@zeroproject.org

capito, Chief Digital Officer
Paul Anton Mayer, tel. +43 660 1350455;
E-mail: paul.mayer@capito.eu

SOURCE: UniCredit Bank Austria AG