Nordic EdTech News #26 : 2020-09-14

Your Week 36 and 37 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems

Sep 14, 2020

This newsletter marks 12 months since I started Nordic EdTech News and it’s unbelievable to think how much has happened in that time. But, as outlined in the news items below, Nordic and Baltic EdTech continue to steam ahead strongly, despite significant market challenges.

Our local EdTech ecosystem has been further strengthened by the recent launch of EdTech Lithuania - huge congratulations to everyone involved! The initiative is formally kicked off on Thursday at the GLL Gathering 2020: Learning Fever, and features a stellar line-up including Esther Wojcicki and Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO at Coursera.

As infections rise (again) across Europe, there’s continued uncertainty just as schools get back into their groove, although this McKinsey report offers a strong framework for moving forwards. There’s also increasing pressure on smaller global EdTech businesses as larger players exert an increasing influence (Link). There surely has to be room for both in the ‘more equitable and resilient K–12 education system’ envisaged in this fascinating McKinsey report.

The team behind Teach Millions are gearing up to ensure that schools can continue to access high-quality Nordic EdTech resources, whenever and wherever learning takes place. If you’d like to get resources listed on the site or if you’re able to support the site financially, please contact their CEO, Peter Fagerström (peter@teachmillions.org).

Four other quick links to bring to your attention.

Don’t miss Education Alliance Finland's first-ever client and partner workshop. The topic is EdTech's learning impact and there’s further info here.
N8 Chair, Märt Aro, has published a powerful call-to-arms describing how reorganising EdTech ecosystems can open up high-quality education for all. (Link)
Useful information on Estonian and Norwegian ICT usage in this DigiGen report. (Link)
Detailed national and international stats aplenty in the OECD’s ‘Education at a Glance 2020’ report. (Link)

Thanks to everyone who’s subscribed, helped and supported me over the last 12 months and the last 26 newsletters! Here’s to many more! Best, Jonathan

News from Denmark

Aula 2.0 - the biggest update so far is now live. (Danish)
CanopyLAB are nominated for SDG Tech Awards Denmark. (Link)
Kurt Gammelgaard Nielsen, board member of Edtech Denmark, argues that the pandemic is an opportunity to redesign teaching. (Den, Eng)
LEGO sales are up nearly 15% during H1 of 2020. (Link)
Significant growth for Peaqs during the pandemic. (Link)
Shape Robotics hires former EdTech Denmark CEO (Link) and signs letter of intent to sell Fable Connect direct to consumers. (Link)

News from Estonia

Two new articles detailing the secrets of Estonia’s education success. (Link, Link)
Part of that success is, in my opinion, due to active co-creation between educators and EdTech businesses. Find out more here (in Estonian)
e-Estonia host digital discussion on EdTech featuring 99Math, Clanbeat and eKool. (Recording here)
Fascinating open call for tenders from Estonian government “to develop national AI infrastructure, which enables personalisation in education”. (Est)

News from Finland

Claned are included in the Emerging Startups of Higher Education Tech list. (Link)
Code School Finland begins to teach programming and to deliver teacher training in Japanese schools. (Link)
Eduten partners with Domo de Refontiro to enter markets in Belgium and the Netherlands. (Link)
Kide Science announce move into Africa with STEM METS. (Link)
LessonApp launch in Spanish (Link) and produce new podcast on SDG4. (Link)
School Day and Oxford Education LIT launch first schools together. (Link)
Interesting article on Sparkmind.vc, the leading EdTech VC fund based in Helsinki. (Fin, Eng)
Government report suggests that Finnish schools coped well with pandemic disruption, but that students wanted more ‘interaction’. (Link)

News from Iceland

Mussila win the Academics’ Choice Award. (Link)

News from Latvia

iZvaigzne launch new online Russian resources. (Lat, Eng)
Solfegio run an interactive online workshop showing how it supports teaching (26th Sept - details here) and participates in the ASU GSV Virtual Summit. (Link)
Extensive resources published by Uzdevumi.lv to support parents, students and teachers as schools return in Latvia. (Lat, Eng)

News from Lithuania

BitDegree’s August update is, as always, well worth a read. (Link)
A great couple of weeks for Teachers Lead Tech as they’re selected for the K-Startup Grand Challenge (Link), named as a finalist in the MIT Solve Global Challenge (Link) and extend their work into Klaipeda. (Link)
Turing College raise €1.2 million investment and launch new data science curriculum leveraging Income Share Agreements. (Link)

News from Norway

A teacher in Bergen outlines some of the challenges schools are facing as a result of limited budgets. (Nor, Eng)
Inspera produce a complete guide to digital assessment. (Link)
Kahoot! launches Spanish version of the app with more languages coming soon. (Link)
Learn about Learnlink’s involvement in the Telia Startup programme. (Nor, Eng)
Great coverage from the UK highlighting how No Isolation’s robots enable students to engage in education. (Link)
Skooler celebrate as 2 million Azure users connect to their app. (Link)

News from Sweden

Detailed review of how the pandemic has impacted Swedish EdTech and school digitalisation via Spaningen. (Swe, Eng)
AcadeMedia announces strong profits and continued growth. (Swedish)
ESO Expert Group report highlights differences in digital competence among Swedish universities. (Swedish)
New ‘Min robot’ coding challenge launched by Kodcentrum. (Swedish)
Kognity announce programme of new CPD bootcamps / webinars. (Link)
Läromedelsförfattarna launch campaign to ensure all Swedish students and teachers have access to good quality teaching materials. (Swe, Eng)
Congratulations to the team at Learnster as they raise SEK 12 million. (Swe, Eng)
Gothenburg provides access to Polyglutt for all municipality preschools. (Swe, Eng)
Story Wars AB merges with UK’s Squirrel Learning. (Link)
Urkund becomes Ouriginal.