Nordic EdTech News #102: 2023-12-11
Your Weeks 48 - 49 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.
Hello and welcome to the final Nordic EdTech News of 2023. I cannot believe how quickly the year has gone - it’s been a busy one for Nordic EdTech and the last two weeks have been no exception. Let’s dive in!
The recent XcitED 2023 event at Slush saw the announcement of the 2023 Nordic Baltic EdTech 50. This is HolonIQ's annual list of the most promising EdTech startups from across the Nordic and Baltic region.
Three key takeaways from HolonIQ’s detailed analysis of the list: more than half of this year's list operate in the K-12 sector; EdTechs from Finland, Norway and Sweden make up two thirds of companies recognised; B2B models dominate as EdTechs work closely with schools, institutions and companies to deliver their solutions.
Congratulations to the 50 companies who made the list!
The GESAwards Nordic and Baltic semi-finals also took place at XcitED. Congratulations to Norway’s SignLab, who were named as the worthy winners.
Of course, the other major news story to cover is the publication of the PISA results. Apart from congratulating Estonia for retaining their position as Europe’s top performer, I’m not going to go into the specifics of the national results and subsequent coverage. But there are some interesting broader, digital themes to look at.
Not least the fact that the 8 countries in our ecosystem are all in the top 21 countries globally for use of digital resources in school (Link, p195). In fact Denmark tops the OECD table with students using digital tools in school for learning for 3.8 hours a day, on average.
More broadly, the Pisa 2022 report is clear that national governments should ensure that “all schools, regardless of their socio-economic profile, enjoy adequate and quality educational material and digital resources.” It also finds that the moderate use of digital devices in school (up to one hour a day for learning activities) is related to higher academic performance, particularly in maths.
Do check out this EEA newsblast for further insight on the PISA results and digital learning. If you’re after more detailed stats, then the survey notes for each participating country can be found here along with an overarching document that provides key insights and interpretations.
Nordic EdTech News returns to subscriber inboxes on 8 January 2024, so please follow us on X where we’ll be keeping an eye on any major developments over the festive season.
Finally, huge thanks to everyone for reading, subscribing and supporting this newsletter over the last 12 months - it’s very much appreciated!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Danes want compulsory technology understanding in primary school. (Link)
Vocational and upper secondary programmes in Himmerland were without internet and part of their IT infrastructure after a ransomware attack. (Link)
Forlaget Columbus and GO Forlag have announced they will be merging - effective 1 December. (Link)
Shape Robotics lands their largest-ever order deal (DKK 53 million) with their Romanian partner. (Link)
Stine Hegelund Bertelsen has been hired as the new Director of Styrelsen for It og Læring, who promotes “digital development in the field of education.” (Link)
Henrik Løvig has been named as the new CEO at UNIwise, following their recent acquisition by Monterro. (Link)
News from Estonia
ALPA Kids won the Impact Valley impact accelerator competition, held in Lithuania. (Link)
EdTech Estonia and the Ministry of Education and Research recognise the nation’s outstanding educational innovators. Congratulations! (Link)
Praktikal was chosen as one of the 10 Estonian startups to keep an eye on in 2024 by TechRound. (Link)
News from Finland
Two essential, recently-published documents demonstrating the clear digital direction for Finnish education - digital compass and target state.
Eduten is launching a new research project in Laos with UNICEF “to transform learning experiences in the country.” (Link)
GraphoGame helped Norwegian researchers identify three out of four students with reading difficulties. (Link)
Sad to hear that funding for the Helsinki Education Hub will finish at the end of this year. (Link)
Kide Science won a 2023 Supes' Choice Award Winner in the STEM / STEAM Instructional Solution category (Link) and were highly commended at the 2023 Teach Early Years Awards (Link)
Kwizie, the “platform for transforming how we engage with and learn from video content”, launches their full version. (Link)
Oppiva Invest and 3DBear investigate best practice in sharing learning content. (Link)
News from Iceland
The government has announced 19 measures to support the preservation and development of Icelandic (Link) as students’ vocabulary continues to shrink (Link).
The Icelandic Labour Office has implemented Bara tala to improve job seekers’ language skills. (Link)
News from Latvia
A new European Social Fund project has introduced joint digitization initiatives in five Latvian universities. (Link)
Edurio published a new report on pupil wellbeing and emotional health in English schools. (Link)
New online video courses for students from Palīgsmācīdos.lv, produced in association with Uzdevumi, the largest education portal in Latvia
News from Lithuania
Scoolsy were recognised as the 2023 Startup of the year in the Skaitmeninis knygnešys competition. (Link)
Turing College has been nominated for Best Newcomer 2023 and Startup of the Year at the 2023 Central European Startup Awards. (Link)
News from Norway
A new, digital game-based teaching programme at USN led to better student grades. (Link)
Inspera expands its range of proctoring services to include live and recorded review functionality. (Link)
Kahoot! wins a GESS Education Award for best paid EdTech solution. (Link)
Ludenso are runners-up in the Vesalius Innovation Awards (Link) and launch a new collaboration with Bold Books, bringing AR to independent authors. (Link)
Morten Jørgensen has been named as the new CEO of No Isolation. Karen Dolva is stepping down as CEO and embarking on a period of parental leave. (Link)
Per Borgen, Scrimba CEO, unveils their new AI Engineering Initiative in a recent EdTech Insiders podcast. (Link)
There is “great interest” from Norwegian universities in learning platforms, digital exams and plagiarism control solutions, according to work by SIKT. (Link)
News from Sweden
Working with practitioners, Colearn identifies 3 guiding aims for how AI can help transform L&D: L&D as a Strategic Force, Everyone a Learner and Everyone an Educator. (Link)
Jarle Skogheim will be the new CEO at Haldor - he is currently their CTO and was one of the company’s founders in 2017. (Link)
Magma Math plans closer cooperation with Lexplore (Link) as their recent maths competition generated 2 million calculations from over 400 classes (Link).
NUITEQ confirms a new strategic partnership with Wingsys, a Portuguese company recognised for its excellence in interactive technology. (Link)
Skolon won another agreement in Norway with Innlandet fylkeskommun. (Link)
A year of growth at StudyBee as Ulrika Munkby joins their board. (Link)
New board members confirmed at Swedish Edtech Industry. (Link)
Thanks for reading this newsletter. If you think that your colleagues and wider network would find it useful, please share it with them!