Dr. Jan Blüher, the founder of “VisorApp” from Germany

After completing his doctorate in Bioinformatics at University, his project application was not approved and he did not get a contract. This happened in the year (2011) prior to when smartphones were available on the market. Jan sensed a great opportunity, as this technology offered many more options for blind and visually impaired people to make their lives easier.

Even though his plan failed due to financial obstacles, Jan hoped to find another project to work on, making use of the new qualifications he had acquired during this time.

Jan had to register his state of unemployment at the State Employment Agency and attended a training course on iPhone programming as a vocational integration measure. He received Start-up assistance and employment assistance (grant for support workers). He was constantly in contact with the responsible authorities since he encountered many issues with support workers and workplace accommodations. 

Jan´s wife supported him a lot and helped him all the way through. Fortunately, Dr Blüher already had certain financial assets, so that he was not reliant on income in the first years of the existence of his Start-up.

Initially, Jan Blüher was not fully content with his idea, but gradually he started to realise that this new path allowed him to be free in his decisions. “It is very satisfying to see that you develop and produce meaningful products. I get positive feedback – people say they find it useful, and this is great to know”.