Nordic EdTech News #101: 2023-11-27
Your Weeks 46 - 47 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Nordic EdTech News is the best way to keep up with the EdTech ecosystem across 8 Nordic and Baltic countries. I curate it from company updates and a wide variety of international sources. It’s a passion project of mine - the rest of my time is spent advising / consulting the companies who lead the future of learning. If you’d like to find out more, drop me an email.
Good morning, grab a coffee and let’s dive into what’s been happening.
Helsinki will be the epicentre of European tech this week for the annual Slush event. Work commitments mean I cannot attend but I hope everyone visiting enjoys the experience. I’m pleased to see that the InvestED event has sold out and do check out XcitED 2023 on 1st December if you’re in town.
This event will see the announcement of this year’s HolonIQ’s Nordic and Baltic EdTech 50, which is their annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from our region. I’ll cover that in full detail in the next newsletter, but keep an eye on our Twitter feed for the news as it happens.
XcitED also features the GESAwards Nordic and Baltic semi-finals. This year’s contestants are BitDegree (Lithuania), Dugga (Sweden), SignLab (Norway), TinyApp (Finland) and Turing College (Lithuania). They’ve been selected by the GESAwards HQ, with the support of xEdu.
Staying in Helsinki, Rob Kolkman has been appointed President and CEO of Sanoma and will start in the role on 1 January 2024 (Link). He will also continue to lead Sanoma Learning, where he has been CEO since 2020.
To get a full picture of the group’s priorities and those of Sanoma Learning, the presentation materials and classroom simulations from their recent Capital Markets Day are really insightful (Link). The launch of a collaboration between Sanoma Learning and Microsoft to “better support teachers and students across Europe in achieving their learning goals” was perhaps the most notable new development or innovation announced at the event.
But given the proposed, continued de-digitisation of compulsory education in Sweden, perhaps this no-frills approach is exactly the right strategy to follow? The Swedish government has now formally rejected the digitisation strategy proposed by Skolverket, the Swedish National Agency for Education (Link) asking it to develop new guidance for teachers. Skills, the government argues, can be best developed “through analogue activities in analogue environments.” It continues that the focus “in the younger ages should be on analogue learning tools", but concedes that "digital learning tools can be used to a greater extent and produce good effects as the age increases." But "only under the condition that it is done selectively, based on clear scientific support and documented educational added value."
In that vein, I’d love to draw their attention to this large-scale research project. In a study of nearly 12,000 children in the United States, no evidence was found to show that screen time impacted their brain function, cognitive development or well-being. But as seems clear from the Swedish Edtech Industry’s robust review of their engagement with this decision-making process, the thinking here is being driven by ideology rather than following the science.
In better news for Swedish EdTech, Imagi won the Education and Training category in the FT's survey of European "tech champions." Congratulations! (Full story here.)
Just a quick note on future issues of this newsletter. The next one will come out in 2 weeks on 11th December and I’ll then take a short break for the holidays before returning on 8th January 2024.
If you’ve missed any previous newsletters, you can catch up with them all here.
Thank you for reading, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Research on Danish job seekers suggests that “the optimal solution for people most at risk of job loss may be old-fashioned classroom training.” (Link HT: Matt Tower)
Danish municipalities are growing increasingly frustrated as they wait for a decision in the landmark Chromebook case. (Link)
Interesting debate article arguing for the decentralisation of decision-making on teaching resources, putting more power in teachers’ hands (Link). See also this online debate on the topic that was part of the recent Digitiseringsdage 2023.
After threats of violence in a group chat about a computer game, Copenhagen Municipality has restricted students' use of MS Teams. (Link)
The government’s new digitisation strategy contains further details on the introduction of technology understanding into the curriculum for all pupils from 1st to 9th grade.
Labster confirms a new partnership with the American Physiological Society to support physiology educators and researchers. (Link)
Congratulations to Shape Robotics for their listing on the Nasdaq Main Market (Link). Their prospectus makes fascinating reading on future plans / strategy.
News from Estonia
Interview with Kristina Kallas, Minister of Education in Le Monde: “Artificial intelligence is already in schools, wanting to drive it out would be illusory.”
Report from the Cybercation conference in Tartu , which aimed to transform how the Nordic countries approach cybersecurity education.
News from Finland
Code School Finland argues that educators equipped with AI tools find “themselves with more time for what truly matters – meaningful human engagement.” (Link)
Edita confirms that they’re working on a range of new learning materials for preschool and elementary school settings. (Link)
The international programme for the Educa Fair in January 2024 has now been published. Full details here.
HEI Schools opened up the Indian market with their first Kindergarten. (Link)
HundrED have announced the launch of the HundrED Foundation in Geneva. It is backed by the Jacobs Foundation and aims “to support & research the implementation of impactful and scalable innovations in K-12 education.” (Link)
News from Iceland
5 municipalities have purchased and are now using Bara tala to improve their staff’s Icelandic language skills. (Link)
News from Latvia
The national government will create a monitoring system to oversee the use of computers in education institutions. (Link)
Edurio’s new Parental Engagement Report looks into feedback from 38,000 parents and carers from 266 schools in the UK during 2022 / 2023. (Link)
News from Lithuania
Great to see that EdTech Lithuania had the opportunity to meet with Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for education and skills. (Link)
The hottest tech ecosystem at Slush? (Hint, it's not Finland)
LILEDU have secured a €125k investment from FIRSTPICK VC for their educational toy subscription product. (Link)
News from Norway
One secondary school teacher’s perspective: “Don't complain about the textbooks. Stop using them!”
Eduplaytion has been nominated for Social Entrepreneur of the Year. (Link)
House of Math launched a new subscription version in Norway. (Link)
IKT-Norge is running a campaign to support teachers and students in Ukraine with laptops and tablets. Find out more and contribute here.
New workplace research from Kahoot! focuses on “Learning on the frontline.”
Daniel Senn and Johannes Stensen, the founders of Poio (acquired by Kahoot), have launched We Will Write to “grow engaged writers.” (Link)
Scrimba develops a new course called “The AI Engineer Path.” (Link)
The University of Agder (UiA) identifies an extensive, positive impact from the use of AI tools. (Link)
News from Sweden
Employers in Sweden invest less in the development of their employees than employers in competing countries. (Link HT: HR Innovation & Digitalisering)
Great podcast (in English) on the de-digitization of Swedish schools featuring Neil Selwyn and Professor Anna-Lena Godhe from Jönköping University
Every fifth school misses out on grants for textbooks. (Link)
Albert reports improving EBITDA and increasing net sales in an encouraging Jan to Sept 2023 update. (Link)
Students at Aalen University have completed 20,000 exams in their first academic year working with Digiexam. (Link)
Per Clingweld joins Kattalo as co-owner and growth strategist. (Link)
Magma Math signed a new deal with Alabaster Public Schools in the US (Link) as users now solve 1,000,000 solutions a day on the platform (Link).
Quizrr has worked with corporate customers globally and is now focusing on the market in Sweden. (Link)
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Good post Jonathan. I have been thinking that US$1-2Mn acquisitions might be important in various segments as a growth strategy for entrepreneurs. There might be PMF to some extent, some revenue traction and some key hires with the relevant connections. Companies might look at acquiring in the US or acquiring something in Europe that also has in-roads in the US.
Akhil Kishore
GIA ADVISORS