Nordic EdTech News #24 : 2020-08-17
Your Week 32 and 33 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems
It’s an exciting week ahead as the first ever Nordic-Baltic EdTech 50 will be announced at 10:00 CET this Wednesday 19th August. This is HolonIQ's ranking of the 50 most promising EdTech startups from the Nordic-Baltic region and Nordic EdTech News is delighted to work with them on this great initiative. Register now to learn who has been selected as well as hearing from 99Math, Labster and School Day.
It will be hugely interesting to hear more from Labster given their current trajectory. In the last fortnight alone, they have raised $9 million in equity venture funding to fuel their Asian expansion (Link), offered their virtual labs to K-12 users for the first time (Link) and announced that their 3D chemistry visualizations will be integrated into Google Search! (Link)
In other Danish news, it’s great to see some early insights into a market mapping exercise conducted by EdTech Denmark. (Link) I look forward to reporting on the full report when it’s published. I’ll also be closely following the growth of the EdTech Lithuania Forum after their recent pre-launch. (Link)
As schools return for the new term, increasing evidence is emerging that educators are more comfortable using digital technologies. Research from Freeed found that over 90% of teachers said that their own digital skills had improved either ‘a lot’ or ‘somewhat’ in recent months (Link). Similarly, research with Kahoot! users found that 85% of educators expected to use technology more frequently in their classrooms in the future - only 0.4% expected to use technology less frequently. As further evidenced in Pearson’s updated ‘Global Learner Survey’, it seems that there’s little appetite amongst educators and learners to ‘unplug’ online learning.
And in that light, this analysis of ByteDance’s (the owners of TikTok) plans to develop education as a pillar of their future business should be essential reading for all.
Finally, last chance to apply for The EdVentures Global Business Acceleration Fellowship - deadline extended to 24th August 2020.
Cheers and thanks for your support, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Aalborg University hit by cyber attack (Den, Eng) but Danish universities continue to use Zoom despite security concerns. (Den, Eng - $$)
CanopyLAB named in list of Top 20 Learning Management Systems. (Link)
Fascinating research on school reopening from SDU, supported by The LEGO Foundation. (Den, Eng)
Kasper Holst Hansen steps down at Matematikfessor shortly after selling the site to Lindhardt & Ringhof. (Den, Eng)
New restrictions proposed on the use of mobiles in schools. (Den, Eng)
News from Estonia
Final co-creation seminar between schools and EdTech companies scheduled for 27th August. (Est, Eng)
99Math reflect on how Covid-19 has changed teaching (Link) and launch new incentives for learners. (Link)
ALPA Kids and Clanbeat report strong user growth on this Estonian podcast. (Est, Eng)
Great to see Maria Rahamägi from Edumus profiled in Postimees (Est, $$) as three of their teachers share experiences. (Est)
The prototypes created through the Hüppelaud programme are revealed.(Est, Eng)
News from Finland
3DBear and CleverBooks collaborate to launch a ‘Back to school’ campaign. (Link)
Code School Finland start work in Japan (Link) and launch results of Malaysian schools survey. (Link)
Education Alliance Finland reach Vietnam. (Link)
FinnOppi launch online Chinese language learning course. (Link)
Finnish Schools International to launch an affordable global online school. (Link)
Grib named as the ‘Most Pioneering 3D modelling software of 2020' and awarded the '2020 Technology Innovator' at the Corporate Vision Awards. (Link)
Expansion into Kosovo is next on the agenda for Kide Science. (Link)
Technology Industries of Finland launch ‘This Works’ - a new learning programme for first grade students globally. (Link)
News from Iceland
Interested to watch Atlas Primer as it moves to general access.
Kara Connect’s CEO, Thorbjorg Helga, is identified as Iceland’s top female founder (Link) and is interviewed by Thrive Global. (Link)
News from Latvia
Great summary of how EdTech companies helped Latvia to ‘stay ahead of the curve’. (Link)
TechChill announce that EdTech will be a core focus for 2021. (Link)
Latvian Government to invest heavily in technology provision for schools. (Lat, Eng)
News from Lithuania
BitDegree and Tartu University Centre for Educational Technology launch a two-year R&D project (Link) and publish monthly update for July. (Link)
Teachers Lead Tech are named Startup of The Year at the Lithuanian finals of the World Summit Awards (Link) as Edukraftas win in the Learning and Education Category. (Link)
News from Norway
Significant Covid-19 teaching and assessment research published with views from students, teachers and school leaders. (Nor, Eng)
Kahoot! Academy launches new social and emotional learning collections to support back to school. (Link)
Kikora announce product developments for the new school year (Nor) including new Kikora Katapult.
How children and pre-K teachers use digital resources differently. (Nor, Eng)
News from Sweden
DigiExam release Remote Proctoring in response to digital assessment challenges. (Link)
Much-awaited ESO report on digitisation in higher education launched via webinar on 25th August. (Swe, Eng)
Kognity named as runner-up in the EdTechX Global All Star Scale Up Awards. (Link)
Skolon release iOS App (Swe, Eng) and announce agreement with Östersund municipality. (Swe, Eng)
Thanks for reading and see you again on 31st August 2020!
Many thanks, Jonathan
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