Ever wondered why Nordics are hitting the charts in global innovation rankings? There are certainly many factors for that, but the secret lies down in something that goes deep into the roots – education. Northern Europe’s education system is effective and fun, and what’s most important, it is innovative. Finnish schools and universities collaborate with startups on implementing new learning methods and helping students to experience learning process in the more enjoyable way. Startups also receive transformative benefits from this collaborations, – many edtech startups from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden are starting to make some serious international noise. Now, these countries´ ecosystems are partnering to create the Nordic Edtech Alliance (NEA) to show the world the quality and potential of Nordic edtech.
The aims of Nordic Edtech Alliance are to support and profile Nordic edtech internationally, where the Nordic values of Equality, Democracy, Quality, Motivational Learning and Efficiency are at the core. The Nordic Edtech Startup Award is the first step for NEA to fulfil its mission, – to promote Nordic education technology and to build bridges to international markets for Nordic Edtech companies and suppliers.
“The Nordics attract a lot of capital. We are extremely good at innovation, usability, high technology and scalability. Our strong gaming industry and fintech are examples of this. Adding our internationally renowned education system to the mix, where we are extremely good at developing future skills like collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship, and are leading in digitalising the education sector, we have all ingredients we need to be the home for the next edtech unicorn,” says Jannie Jeppesen, CEO of Swedish Edtech Industry and NEA partner.
The Nordic Edtech Awards will be held in Finland, world’s education superpower. The awards final will be celebrated at an Edtech event, done in collaboration with Slush, the largest tech startup event held in Finland this fall. The awards will showcase and salute the most promising edtech startups from the region. Tthe winner will receive a €10.000 grant and a fast track to the Nordic Edtech Accelerator xEdu in Helsinki.
Activity on the Nordic edtech scene is increasing with innovative new ideas and companies paving the way to international markets and investments like Kahoot! (Norway), Digiexam (Sweden), Labster (Denmark) and Mightifier (Finland), with the latter being named the Most Innovative Digital Service category in the annual 2017 Grand One Awards and winner of the Pitching Competition at Arctic15.
“The time is right. The Nordic edtech community is getting recognised and we know how many promising and exciting entrepreneurs we have in our countries. Through joining forces and pulling together, Nordic edtech has the opportunity to take a position as the best and most competitive in the world,” says Hege Tollerud, CEO at Oslo Edtech Cluster, one of the NEA partnering networks.
If you are an edtech startup founder, and you feel like your company has a potential to win the Nordic Edtech Awards this year, you can find more information here.
