Harpo Sp. z o.o began its operations on July 18, 1985. Three years later we already had our first contribution to the Polish blind community. We localized Apollo, a speech synthesizer by Dolphin. That was only the beginning of a successful journey to the world of assistive technology.
Now Harpo is a company with a global reach. Since 2010, the year we celebrated our 25th anniversary, our products have been delivered to all corners of the world. Thanks to the network of our partners, people with visual impairments around the globe have an opportunity to improve their lives with a range of solutions developed and manufactured by Harpo.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create cutting edge and flexible solutions for people with disabilities, in particular, for those with visual impairments. We aim at affordable, professional and individualized support. We care equally about all our customers. Our dream is to eliminate obstacles people with disabilities may encounter by empowering them with state-of-the-art tools.
Our customers use Harpo’s solutions to interact with the world, to realise their ambitions and to help make the world see them for the talented people they are. We realize our commitment through:
- Ongoing research into new ways to access the world;
- A continuous search for new solutions around the world;
- Constant evaluation of the quality of the products, service and support we provide;
- Striving for excellence;
- Working to bring our solutions to more of the world, to help make them more affordable.
Our Values
There are crucial principles that we religiously follow in our commitment to excellence.
We always care for quality
We actively meet the client’s needs
We care for every client with equal attention
We are responsible
We raise our own knowledge
Our Awards
Our History
| 2015 | Initiation of the Horizon 2020 EMYNOS project for Research in collaboration with various European universities and corporations. The objective of the project is the design and implementation of a next generation emergency platform |
| 2014 | Introduction of Mountbatten Braille Whisperer. |
| 2013 | Initiation of the In-Met project, supported by the Polish National Committee for Research and Development. The aim of the project is development of innovative therapy system for people of all ages |
| 2012 | Honorable Mention for PCEye by Tobii, an eye-tracking device (Harpo is the sole distributor of this device in Poland). |
| 2011 | Recognition at the World Braille Union’s “Braille 21” conference for the BraillePen 12 in the category of the innovative product |
| 2011 | Coorganizer of the 7th “Let’s Talk Together” Regional IAAC Conference for Central and Eastern Europe |
| 2010 | Harpo’s 25. Anniversary Celebrations |
| 2010 | Initiation of the "Braille Learning System” project |
| 2010 | Initiation of the Dicomp Transfer project as part of a EU’s Leonardo Da Vinci Program. The objective of the project was to localize a free screen reader |
| 2010 | Takeover of the manufacture of the Mountbatten and the PIAF Tactile Image Maker from Quantum |
| 2010 | Initiation of the AsTeRICS project being part of EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research in collaboration with various European universities and corporations. The objective of the project is the development of the Assistive Technology Rapid Integration & Construction Set |
| 2010 | Coorganizer of the International Braille Challenge in Prague, Czech Republic |
| 2010 | Gold Medal of Polish Association for the Blind |
| 2008 | Business awards: Forbes’ Diamonds, Gazela Biznesu by Biznes Puls Magazine |
| 2006 | AfaSystem’s sale begins |
| 2006 | BraillePen 12’s sale begins |
| 2005 | Gold Medal for the BraillePen Slim at Łódz Rehab Fair |
| 2004 | BraillePen’s (Slim) sale begins |
| 2002 | Initiation of the “Aphasia Therapeutical Computer System” project. AfaSystem as a fruit of the project |
| 2002 | Initiation of the “Multifunctional Electronic Braille Device” project as a result of which BraillePen 12 was born |
| 1999 | "Porozumienie Bez Barier” Foundation Award for the best product for people with disabilities. Auto-Lektor rewarded by the First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska |
| 1999 | Initiation of the “Electronic Braille note taker” project that resulted in the development of BraillePen (known today as BraillePen Slim) |
| 1998 | Auto-Lektor sale begins |
| 1996 | Initiation of the Auto-Lektor development project with own synthetic voice and OCR |
| 1994 | ”Product of the Year” Award for Kubus synthesizer |
| 1993-94 | Collaboration with the Polish Academy of Science; the development of the first Polish synthetic voice “Kubus” |
| 1987-88 | Collaboration with Dolphin; the first localized Polish speech synthesizer Apollo |
| July 18, 1985 | The Inception of the Company |