Nordic EdTech News #111: 2024-05-06

Your Week 17 - 18 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem

Hello and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News.

This newsletter’s mission is simple: “to accelerate the reach and impact of Nordic and Baltic EdTech.” So supporting other initiatives with similar ambitions is always a priority. I wrote in the last newsletter about the first Nordic Track event, which took place at SETT recently - an excellent summary has now been published and the opening keynote is available for everyone to view here.

Similarly, I hope that The Nordic EdTech Summit I’m organising in Skellefteå this August will spark the conversations and collaborations to propel the ecosystem forward. Further detail on the event programme is now available on the above link.

Whether you’re leading a well-established education publisher or building a start up, this unique event will offer invaluable insights and practical perspectives on growing your business. Top EdTech CEOs and founders will be sharing their lessons and advice on how to succeed.

To give as many subscribers the chance to attend the Summit as possible, I’m pleased extend the exclusive 15% discount on Early Bird tickets. To claim it, just enter the code FriendOfMine when buying your ticket here before the end of May.

One of the main stage speakers at the Summit will be Oliver Lundgren, the CEO at Skolon. He’s overseen a period of exceptional growth at the company and will share his insights on delivering profitable and sustainable expansion. The business recently released their financial results for Q1 2024, which shows reported net sales of SEK 23.5 million (14.5 in 2023) from 771,350 paying users. That’s up 24.6% from 618,954 paying users in Q1 2023.

Congratulations also to the team at Norway’s Pickatale, which has seen a “seven-fold increase in the number of paying users this school year.” This has underpinned a new investment round of NOK 30 million from both new and existing investors to help them “revolutionize the market.“ (Link).

Pickatale is also the highest ranked Nordic EdTech in a new global ranking by TIME and Statista of the world’s 250 top EdTech companies. 14 other businesses from our region (sorry - too many to list individually here) are included in the list, which is “based on a formula evaluating financial strength and industry impact.”

Whilst in Norway, an influential group of stakeholders have argued for a “more balanced exchange of words about digitization in schools” (Link). Their letter reiterates the importance of developing “pupils' digital competence” and for close dialogue with parents. This is particularly important in the light of new research from Norway on “Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health.”

In Denmark, the expert group looking at the use of ChatGPT and other digital aids in assessment has now submitted its report to the Minister for Children and Education (Link). The group makes four key recommendations:

1. Assessment should be undertaken with and without digital aids

2. Testing should be constantly developing

3. The use of digital technology and AI should be a strategic area for ​​action

4. Teaching must inform the development of new assessment formats.

Feedback on the report from IT-Branchen highlighted the report’s narrow focus, arguing for “a slightly broader perspective” which could have explored “how students can use AI to become more creative and productive.”

Certainly one element to carefully consider is that AI might be the final nail in the coffin for modern languages. This prospect is particularly topical given the news that national education and culture ministers have signed a new political declaration on Nordic languages (Link). The agreement affirms that these languages should “remain strong and vibrant now and in the future.” How that’s possible in the age of AI is however less clear.

As always, if you’ve got a story that you’d like me to include in a future issue of this newsletter, please email hello@10digits.org, tag me on Twitter or LinkedIn or use #nordicedtech / #balticedtech.

Thanks for reading this newsletter and please recommend it to friends and contacts by forwarding them a copy or via social media.

Best, Jonathan

News from Denmark

• New research shows that 48% of Danish workplaces now use AI and that 25% of employees have direct interaction with the technology. (Link)

• A decision is expected in the “Chromebook” case before the summer holidays (Link). But there’s “wild workload for teachers” as Aalborg municipality prepares for life without Chromebooks. (Link)

• Salesforce sees “huge potential” in their DKK 330 million agreement with Danish universities. (Link)

• Shape Robotics secures a new deal for 900 Smartlabs from Romania (Link) and wins a first pilot project in India (Link).

• WOOF confirms their expansion into Norway. (Link)

News from Estonia

• Estonia’s education ministry will partner with Singapore on curriculum enhancements and the use of AI in classrooms. (Link)

News from Finland

• Challenges for some teachers as the City of Espoo reiterates its decision that digital learning materials only will be used in local high schools. (Link)

• Interesting insights on harnessing AI and data analytics from the recent AI & Analytics EdTech Summit between Spain and Finland. (Link)

• How the City of Helsinki’s testbed helps speed up product development (Link) as new opportunities for testing are made available (Link).

• Dexude has secured funding from Business Finland TEMPO to develop its AI-powered, live-first, expert-led and community-driven platform. (Link)

• Educraftor announces the expansion of their “training programmes to an online platform, ensuring accessibility for all.” (Link)

• In a study conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development of Bhutan, Eduten has delivered significant improvements in mathematics education. (Link)

News from Iceland

• The Centre for Education & School Services presents Orðatorg, a “turning point” in the use of digital resources to teach Icelandic as a second language. (Link)

• LearnCove signed a deal to work with Vísir, a leader in the Icelandic seafood industry. (Link)

News from Latvia

• Look forward to following the success of StartSchool – a groundbreaking initiative that offers aspiring tech leaders the chance to learn key skills for free.

News from Lithuania

• “The integration of educational technologies into the country's educational institutions is the way to a brighter and innovation-based tomorrow and a positive change in the Lithuanian education system.” 👍👏 (Link)

• How Mindaugas Petrutis, CEO of Coho, is helping to unlock employee engagement and retention. (Link)

• Over 100 students have started new cohorts in Digital Marketing & Analytics, Data Science and Data Analytics at Turing College. (Link)

News from Norway

• “It is important that the technology we choose to surround the students with is well-founded professionally, didactically quality-assured and pedagogically rooted.”

• House of Math unveils a range of new features including a multi-modal AI Oracle. (Link)

• Inspera confirms its plans to expand and provide digital assessment services in Latin America. (Link)

• Kiddy, a platform and app that “simplifies communication” between parents and schools, has raised NOK 4 Million in a new funding round. (Link)

• Sikt is working with Norwegian universities and colleges to acquire a new digital learning platform. (Link)

• WiKIT has extended their team with 3 student interns from the University of Oulu. (Link)

News from Sweden

• Ericsson’s Connect To Learn programme has launched a new initiative with the Senegal Ministry of National Education to support the country’s digital education strategy. (Link)

• Humy (formerly Facing It) secures SEK 1.5 million to fuel US expansion and the development of its AI tutoring solution. (Link)

• Internetstiftelsen launches new tools and resources for educators on using AI in schools. (Link)

• memoryOS, a memory training app, receives new investment from Vesna Capital. (Link)

• Royal Schedule has joined forces with The Sdui Group to introduce an AI-based timetable planner for schools. (Link)

• There are now 10,000 companies on Sana AI, according to a post by CEO Joel Hellermark.

• Skolon strengthens its board with Heidi Rundt, CEO of Hyper Island. (Link)

• Storyals has been invited to the global Microsoft Jump start Partner Program for Copilot. (Link)

• Håkan Furevik is the new chairman of the board at StudyBee. (Link)

• Swedish Edtech Industry: The government misses the target regarding screens in preschool.

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