Official reports in China state that there are an estimated 85 million individuals with various disabilities, with people with intellectual disabilities accounting for up to around 7% of this number. One way to actively promote People with Disabilities (PwD) as equal members of society is to provide them with employment opportunities but employing PwDs is a global challenge. More specifically, employing PwDs is even more challenging. In China it is estimated that approximately 10% of PwDs are employed in the year of 2019, compared with 30% in countries like Germany by 2017, for example. In support of the Inclusion Factory, a social enterprise located in Taicang, SAP Greater China launched in 2019 its project “Athena” to create a series of software solutions tailored to needs of the Inclusion Factory. The project allowed employees with intellectual disabilities to have better access to high-quality vocational training, thus positioning them as strong candidates for employment. This has created more equality for PwDs and greater ac- cess to employment. The “Athena” project is supported by SAPs internal “1 Billion Life” program, including coaching, and financial support. The plan is to increase the scope of the project and bring more benefits to a larger number of PwDs – starting with people with autism. The pilot program will begin with SAP and then scale out to SAP customers.

Source: More Than A Market Booklet 2021