Pakistani start-up for children with special needs bags third prize at Stanford University

A Pakistani start-up bagged third prize on Saturday at a competition held at Stanford University. 

The start-up called WonderTree develops interactive reality based games for children with special needs by using the Microsoft Kinect technology. It focuses on home based physical therapy, biofeedback and tracking.

Members of the team include renowned psychologists and teachers who understand children with special needs.

WonderTree was among the 1074 initial applicants of the Global Innovation Through Science and Technology (GIST) TECH-I Startup competition at Stanford. The startup was then shortlisted as one of the 15 finalists and eventually won the third prize at the competition .

GIST is an annual competition that caters to entrepreneurs from emerging economies of the world.

“The entire journey has been an invaluable learning opportunity for us. Winning today validates what my co-founders and I have been working on for the past year and a half and proves that our games can revolutionize the learning curriculum for children with special needs around the globe. “ said CEO of WonderTree, Muhammad Waqas.

Co-founder of WonderTree, Muhammad Usman spoke about improving education for special children . “We are taking ideas of improving education for special children a step further and trying to turn imagination into reality with the help of technology”

Another co-founder Ahmed Hassan seconded Usman’s words and also thanked friends and family for their support.

President of P@SHA and The Nest I/O, Jehan Ara expressed her immense pride at WonderTree’s achievements, the startup that was incubated at The Nest I/O. “To see their passion and hard work recognized at a global event in silicon valley means so much,” said Jehan Ara.

The start-up has also partnered with various institutions, namely, IPP (Institute for Personal Psychology), DOW University of Health Sciences, Special Olympics Pakistan and KVTC (Karachi Vocational and Training Center)

WonderTree has previously participated in the P@SHA ICT Awards 2015 and also represented Pakistan at APICTA 2015. The startup also received the P@SHA Social Innovative Fund.

GIST was part of 2016’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit where the likes of President Obama, Mark Zukerberg of Facebook, Sundar Pichal of Google among many other notable personalities were invited to talks and panel discussions.