Nordic EdTech News #30 : 2020-11-09

Your Week 44 and 45 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems

Nov 09, 2020

Hello and welcome to today’s newsletter!

The annual XcitED event is always an occasion that celebrates the best of Nordic and Baltic EdTech and demonstrates the strength of our ecosystem. Last week’s virtual event was no exception but it was particularly notable for three significant announcements, which seek to position Helsinki as “the learning capital of the world”.

The news is summarised in this xEdu press release and includes a strategic initiative to build Helsinki as a centre for hybrid learning and the formation of a new Helsinki Education Hub (starts spring 2021). xEdu also announced the creation of a global EdTech Accelerator with Eduspaze (Singapore), USC Rossier Edventures (US) and Injini, from South Africa - further details will follow in due course.

XcitED also saw School Day from Finland named as the winner of the Nordic and Baltic GESAwards semi-final. (Link) Congratulations to them and good luck in the global final in January! Gleechi and Lexplore (both from Sweden) were named as runners-up.

In a busy week for Nordic EdTech, the HundrED 2020 Innovation Summit also took place last week. One of the major outputs of the event is HundrED’s annual Global Collection which “highlights 100 of the brightest global innovations in K12 education” Delighted to see eight companies from our ecosystem included - the full list is here.

It’s also been a busy couple of weeks for Labster as their exceptional growth continues with a new deal with California State University, giving their 23 campuses access to Labster content (Link). They’ve also launched a range of new virtual labs and simulations for biology and chemistry (Link). (This podcast makes interesting listening if you want to learn more about Labster’s growth journey.)

And finally, if you missed the excellent World Bank webinar on Latvia’s remote learning response to Covid-19, a recording is available here.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the topics raised in this newsletter. And please do share this newsletter with your network!

Many thanks, Jonathan

News from Denmark

Aula raises its prices - the bill is 50 million DKK more than expected. (Danish)
CanopyLAB and Aalborg University win €2 million grant to identify how artificial intelligence can better tailor collaborative learning courses. (Den, Eng)
Changes ahead as EdTech Denmark searches for a new CEO (Danish) and four new members join the board. (Den, Eng)
Great investigation in Folkeskolen showing how Danish student data is spread across 15 different countries (Danish) as the Lectio case rumbles on. (Danish)
Interesting new series of debates about the future of education and learning from DAMVAD Analytics. (Link)
If you missed Labster’s Science Online 2020 conference, everything is now online here.
Lego Ventures spins out Light Brick Studio to make digital learning games. (Link)
New partnership announced between SkoleTube and AhaSlides. (Link)

News from Estonia

Exciting to read about the launch of the Jõhvi School of Technology to support and train Estonian software developers and programmers. (Estonian)
Further international recognition for Estonian efforts to promote online learning during the pandemic in The Guardian. (Link)

News from Finland

Strong panel of Finnish companies supporting tomorrow’s Ambitious Africa EdTech event. (Link)
Claned and Santander announce agreement to boost entrepreneurship through digital learning. (Link)
Confirmation that Educa 2021 will take place virtually. (Fin, Eng)
How HEI Schools turn Finnish early childhood education into valuable exports (Link) as they expand into Thailand (Link)
New programme of online lessons launched by Kide Science and MoovKids. (Link)
ICYMI - great profile of Riku Alkio and the team at Seppo. (Finnish)
Education-specific online networking event this Wednesday hosted by International HUB Tampere. (Link)

News from Iceland

Great example of how Icelandic educators have recently responded to new Covid-19 restrictions via Ingvi Hrannar. (Ice, Eng)
Startup Iceland outline the rationale behind their investment in Atlas Primer. (Link)

News from Latvia

Edurio’s recent webinar about managing Covid-19 disruption in schools is well worth a watch. (Link)
Solfeg.io included in recent list of Latvia’s hottest startups. (Link)
The Latvian government announce new curriculum resources for teachers and schools. (Latvian)

News from Lithuania

Great to see Ginvile Ramanauskaite, Head of Product and B2B at BitDegree presenting on “Is an efficient academia-startup partnership possible?” at Icebreakers 20. (Link)
Do get involved with this forthcoming EdTech Hackathon, organised by Vilnius University’s Business School. (Link)

News from Norway

An ‘unprecedented third quarter’ with strong growth in all areas according to the latest update from Kahoot! Full story here.
OECD release new ‘Improving School Quality in Norway 2020’ report. (Link)
Video learning platform Videocation raises NOK 14 million. (Nor, Eng)
Vigilo reached NOK 23 million in turnover last year and eye international expansion. (Nor, Eng)
Universities and colleges prepare for more digital teaching. (Nor)

News from Sweden

Gleechi sign agreement with YrkesAkademin for their VR training platform. (Link)
Läromedelsföretagen announce new quality policy and support for school when choosing teaching content. (Swedish)
Looking forward to this week’s Skolon EdTalk webinar (Link) and next week’s session with Studi. (Link)
Unga Forskare are running important programmes supporting cyber security lessons in Swedish schools. (Swe, Eng)
Valuable insights in this research into how Sweden’s schools delivered online learning during the pandemic.
‘Good enough is not enough for Sweden’ - how to improve education outcomes for all. (Swedish)
Important debate on data management and IT infrastructure in schools. (Swedish)
Ongoing investigation into teaching materials is extended until summer 2021. (Swe, Eng)

Thanks for reading and see you again on 23rd November!