Voluntechies, bringing virtual reality to hospitalized kids

February 8, 2017
One of the amazing aspects of working with technology is the potential social good you can do with it. Here at LUCA we strongly believe in the power of using Big Data for Social Good and that is why we are involved in different projects to help reaching the SDG goals.


Not related with Big Data but with technology is the initiative called Voluntechies. This organization aims to bring the latest technology to hospitals around Spain, so the kids that are hospitalized can forget for a while their diseases and have some fun using technology. In concrete, they organize virtual reality workshops so the kids can escape from their daily lives and go to a virtual world, meanwhile being at the hospital.
Video: Voluntechies initiative brings Virtual Reality to hospitalized kids.
Last week I had the chance to participate in one of the workshops, this time visiting the hospital of La Paz in Madrid. First we helped the kids building their own VR glasses (it was difficult even for me!), to afterwards being able to travel to the space, do an expedition on the dinosaurs era, swim with sharks at the aquarium of San Diego, and even getting inside a One Republic videoclip. This workshop was possible thanks to the foundation Voluntarios Telefónica, which partners with Voluntechies since they started.

Telefónica volunteers Figure 1: Some of the Telefónica volunteers after the VR workshop at La Paz hospital.

The project, which only started a year and a half ago, has been recently nominated to the G5 Innova awards to social innovation. With the goal of reaching 100.000 people by 2020, Voluntechies keeps working so they can spread the network to other hospitals and schools, both outside and within Spain.

Want to help or sponsor the initiative? Find out more here.