Abstract
In this paper, different aspects of the development of universally designed (UD) products have been highlighted, and two different product development projects have been compared, in order to try to analyse the challenges companies face when they engage in creating UD solutions compared to the development of assistive technology and modular based solutions.
Some conclusions have been drawn: The time before reaching break-even in the project whose purpose it was to create a universal design solution, was many times longer, due to the unstable and complex development circumstances.
When time-to-market is longer and project costs are higher for universally designed products compared to modular systems (often represented by assistive technology) or mainstream technology products, there are limited commercial reasons to invest in universally designed solutions.