Google announces winners of “Giving through Glass” competition

Google has announced five winners of a competition it set up to find innovative uses for its wearable Glass technology.

Selected from over 1,300 proposals; each non-profit winner will receive a pair of Glass, a $25,000 (14,586) grant and a trip to Google's headquarters for training. Winning teams will also be given access to Glass developers to make their projects a reality.

Classroom Champions aimed to give students in high-needs schools the chance to see what life is like through the eyes of a paralympic champion. The project aims to encourage those with disabilities to see what they can accomplish if they set their minds to it.

Women's Audio Mission put forward the idea of using Google Glass in its music, science, technology and engineering programs for women and girls. Those wearing the Glass would be able to interact with a more immersive lab experience online and in person, the scheme claims.

Two other programs focused on using Google Glass to aid in therapeutic treatment. The Hearing and Speech Agency plans to use Glass as a way for users to overcome speech language challenges, hearing loss and autism, as well supporting their carers.

The Mark Morris Dance group petitioned the idea of creating a Glass app that helps people with Parkinson's disease remember and trigger body movements in the day to day lives.

Finally, the 3000 Miles to a Cure winner put forward the idea of having Glass users experience their cyclists racing from one side of the US to the other, seeing the journey through the eyes of the participants.

"America will be able to see and experience it through a racer's eyes and the racer will be alerted to every message of encouragement and donation supporters send," director of Google.org, Jacqueline Fuller, wrote in a blog post.

Google is already working with the groups in order to turn their ideas a reality, and has assigned each one a mentor to oversee its development.