Live well
& Prosper
PROFILES
Wine, food and music are essential ingredients
for the good life, but so are a roof over your head
and people who care about you. With our four
interviewees, you are in good hands
PHOTOS MASCHA VERKOOIJENKaren Dolva
User Experience designer and CEO of
No Isolation
by ANJA STEVIC“The easiest way for the world to fall
in love with your ideas is when you
don
,
t push them yourself, but whenyou listen to what others have to say.”
Energetic and altruistic, Karen Dolva’s face lights
up when she talks about her work at No Isolation.
She’s clearly feeling good about things. But then
again, that’s what she hopes everyone will feel.
Her goal: to help people reduce feelings of loneli-
ness and the sense of being cut off from others;
to get everyone connected in relationships they
find valuable.
The idea of the good life, she says, depends 98
percent upon the people around you. And it’s that
which drives her “to figure out how people can talk
to each other better.” And to keep making things
that make sense not just to her but to others.
At No Isolation, she develops easy-to-use tech-
nological tools for individuals and groups strug-
gling to participate more fully in their daily lives.
Tech-savvy people find it easy to stay connected,
she says, but children and seniors in particular do
not, especially when they have been diagnosed
with long-term illnesses.
One of the company’s most ambitious projects
is the robot AV1, which helps sick children stay
connected to their school and classmates.
“They need to see what is happening in real time,”
she says. The small robot serves as children’s
eyes, ears and voice when set in the classroom,
live streaming the events over tablet to their
homes or hospitals. Currently, there are 215 active
users all across Europe.
Making robots was hardly what Dolva expected
when she and her two partners founded the
company. But the satisfaction of seeing those
kids’ eyes shine and their families happy again
certainly was. “To help people have a good life is
the best feeling in the world. I could never go back
to not contributing.”
In a world of ever more mobility and rapid
change, loneliness is widely underestimated, she
says; being lonely has huge side effects on
individuals and communities. Dolva is dedicated
to using technology to help address this issues.
“We build tools that can help those who are left
behind by life to catch up.” And one day, their faces
again will light up, because they have made con-
tact with a friend.Karen Dolva will be speaking at TEDx Vienna’s
“On the Edge” event at Volkstheater on October 21.PHOTO (THIS PAGE): NO ISOLATION