Nordic EdTech News #10 : 2020-01-06
Introducing a new decade of Nordic and Baltic EdTech innovation!
Welcome to 2020! I hope that everyone has had the opportunity to disconnect from work over the holiday season, particularly as January starts the year (as always!) with a bang.
BETT and Educa take place in a couple of weeks. I’ll be looking forward to both events in the next issue of this newsletter, published on 20th January. Please do email me at hello@10digits.org if you’ve got announcements to include or if you’d like to connect at BETT.
If you missed any of December’s newsletters, please check out our archive here, including our exclusive interview with Charles Madon, Partner EMEA, at Lego Ventures here.
To ensure that you receive every edition in 2020, please add us to your contact list, drag the email out of your spam filter into your inbox or even send us a reply. We’d love to hear your comments and feedback. Thank you!
With best regards for the year ahead, Jonathan
Regional news
Eilif Trondsen offers a ‘A Nordic Perspective on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning’, via Silicon Vikings. (Link)
Great to see Denmark and Finland strongly represented at next week’s EDUCON 2020 event in Korea. (Link)
Norrsken Foundation launches €100m impact fund for early-stage European startups, via Sifted. (Link)
Sanoma acquires Clickedu, a leading Spanish schools management platform. (Link)
Global trends
Brighteye Ventures publish the second edition of their indispensable ‘The State of EdTech Marketing Report 2019.’ (Link)
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative outlines its work to move classrooms and teaching into the future. (Link)
Compelling mix of opinions and lots to read in EdSurge’s ‘A Decade in Review: Reflections on 10 Years in Education Technology.’ (Link)
John Fallon’s due to retire as Pearson CEO this year. (Link) Will be interesting to watch his replacement and their strategy moving forward.
News from Denmark
Next Aula rollout (including daycare centres) planned for Autumn 2020. (Den, Eng)
Good summary of 2019’s key EdTech trends from CanopyLAB. (Link)
Denmark is the world’s fastest growing robot nation. (Link)
DigiPippi and Microsoft announce camp for girls to make the world a more fun, interesting and better place. Find out more here.
EDT Partners acquires Copublica Education. (Link)
Author Camilla Mehlsen’s view on Generation Alpha and how they can be best taught in school, via Gyldendahl Education. (Den, Eng)
Minister for Children and Education Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil calls for a better balance between digital teaching and books. (Den, Eng)
News from Estonia
BeED announce launch of their new Indonesia Sales and Marketing office. (Link)
Digitisalisation and education = Education Nation. Full story here.
Amazing to see Estonian Teachers included en masse in this list of 2019’s Outstanding Estonians! (Link)
How HITSA has successfully advanced results in ICT. (Est, Eng)
Update on the partnership between Merkuur and the VIVISTOP Telliskivi in Tallinn. (Link)
Interesting profile of the Riesenkampff Foundation, who launched and support the codesters.club, a programme to promote IT education in schools. (Link)
This year’s sTARTUp Day is just around the corner - 29 to 31 January in Tartu. Full details here.
News from Finland
How Finnish schools are successfully tackling fake news. (Link)
Kide Science is now two years old and outline their plans for 2020. (Link)
LessonApp work with TAMK School of Professional Teacher Education to help trainee teachers with lesson planning (Link). It’s also in their 2019 review - link.
Fascinating interview with Linda Liukas, founder of Hello Ruby. Well worth a listen! (Link)
New Nordic School turns two (Link) and outlines their view on how exam-based education fails to prepare students for the realities of work. (Link)
Seppo announce their involvement in February’s ‘Vaikuta ja vaikutu’ event (Link) and highlight how gamification can support better recruitment. (Link)
News from Iceland
Ingvi Ómarsson reshares his compelling article highlighting ‘14 things that are obsolete in 21st-century schools.’ (Link)
Lots of interest in forthcoming tender for design and development of digital public services in Iceland. (Ice, Eng)
Not strictly EdTech, but Northstack’s new report ‘State of the Icelandic Game Industry 2019’ is a comprehensive must-read.
News from Latvia
Riga Stradins University announce plans to build a science centre and to develop a training programme for startup entrepreneurs. (Latvian)
TechChill 2020 now just over a month away (Riga, Feb 20 - 21) (Link)
News from Lithuania
BitDegree named a winner in the Learning and Education category at the World Summit Awards (Link) and review their achievements in 2019 here.
News from Norway
HomeNet sign up as a partner for Lær Kidsa Koding.
Kahoot! host annual hackathon - look forward to seeing the results! (Link)
Læringsliv announce NOK 11.5 million funding and new partnerships. (Nor, Eng)
Ludenso show the results of their AR art exhibition and collaboration with Midtstuen High School. (Link)
News from Sweden
Do listen to this excellent podcast (in Swedish) from Futurion featuring Karin Bjerde at Kognity. (Link)
Gleechi announce partnership with Jisc to provide virtual reality training in the UK. (Link)
Gro Play launch new maths game 'Play 123, Alfie Atkins' on iOS and Google Play.
Dora Palfi, CEO of imagiLabs, provides a compelling account of an EdTech founder’s year (Link) as they celebrate 2019’s achievements here.
Great BETT 2020 programme from Microsoft Sweden. (Swe, Eng)
New version of NOKflex Mathematics launched, giving teachers access to large amounts of student insight. (Swe, Eng)
Register interest in Swedish EdTest, the new national test bed for EdTech here.
Ugglo announce that they now have over 100,000 paying users. (Swe, Eng)
Thanks for reading and see you again on 20th January!
Best regards, Jonathan
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