Nordic EdTech News #48 : 2021-08-23
Your Weeks 32 and 33 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Given the potential impact of its recommendations, the leading story from the past fortnight has to be that Sweden’s long-awaited Inquiry into Strengthened School Libraries and Teaching Aids has made its final report. The proposals are far reaching and potentially transformative for providers of EdTech and teaching resources.
The report suggests that the Education Act should guarantee students access to relevant teaching materials and that school principals should give teachers the opportunity to choose the right content. A new teaching materials board is also proposed with a remit to develop quality criteria and to give teachers an overview of what resources are available in different subjects.
So far, so good. But perhaps most striking is the report’s clear focus on printed resources. Gustav Fridolin, the government's special investigator, emphasises this in Svenska Dagbladet saying: “The textbook has a special value.” He goes further in an interview with Skolvärlden: “We have come to the conclusion that a textbook can provide a better overview of the subject than digital teaching materials. That is why we want to mention textbooks explicitly in the legal text.” Given that as Minister for Education he launched the government’s digital strategy in education, this appears to be a significant shift in thinking.
In response, the Swedish Edtech Industry and Svenska Läromedelsföretagen acknowledge that the report recognises the importance of teaching materials and that the national market needs significant further investment, but there is concern about the report’s analogue focus. As Jannie Jeppesen, CEO Swedish Edtech Industry, commented:
We, and our members, know that students and teachers need and want access to both printed and digital materials. The focus in the report is too much on the role of print - both are needed, particularly given that Sweden has decided to implement national digital tests. The ability of digital resources to build key competencies such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking and data literacy is also not given enough focus in the report.
I’ll be following this issue in future newsletters, but please do reply or comment below with your thoughts and feedback.
As announced in the last Nordic EdTech News, applications for this year’s HolonIQ’s 2020 Nordic-Baltic EdTech 50 are now open. HolonIQ’s Education Intelligence Team, together with Nordic EdTech News, will select the top 50 startups from the Nordic-Baltic region based on HolonIQ’s Global EdTech Startup evaluation rubric.
For full entry criteria and for a comprehensive review of how all of last year’s Top 50 are progressing, please click here. Applications are welcomed from EdTech companies, their customers and investors and can be made here. The closing date is 8th October 2021.
If you missed last week’s interview with Jonas Lund, CEO at Wizkids, you can read it in full here.
The Nordic EdTech Forum – N8 – is hiring an experienced Project Manager to lead a portfolio of projects including EU-funded programmes. This also includes work on N8’s initiatives that seek to transform the quality of, and access to, education globally. Full details of the role are available here.
If you read this newsletter for Nordic EdTech analysis and insight, you may be interested to know that I offer consultancy services. Want to find out more? Let’s talk.
As always, do let me know if you’ve got any feedback or a story to include in a future issue of this newsletter by emailing hello@10digits.org. Sharing this email with your network is also always much appreciated!
Best regards, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Lise Andersen-Alstrup has been named COO at CanopyLAB. (Link)
New “Digitales Dänemark” platform launched to give Danish EdTech companies improved access to the German market. (Link)
EdTech Denmark announce Digital Læringsdag, 10th September 2021. (Link)
EduHub confirm the startups participating in their second cohort - Ahoot Media, Hololink, LearnLET, Poikilingo and Verdens bedste danske skole. (Link)
Google gives 260,000 DKK to support innovation projects in Fredericia, home of its new data centre. (Dan)
Ruben Samuel Sørensen has been appointed as the new CEO of GoTutor. (Dan)
LEGO Education launches SPIKE Essential, a new STEAM solution for primary schools. (Link)
Shape Robotics announce plans to buy StoryKids, a Romanian EdTech company, (Danish) and sign a distribution deal for the GCC countries (Danish).
uQualio named as ‘Video eLearning Solutions Provider of the Year’. (Link)
News from Estonia
Great video showing how primary schools in Estonia develop digital competence and skills. (Link)
The role of the educational technologist is vital for Estonian education. (Link)
Edumus is placing expert volunteers in Estonian schools to tackle teacher shortages. (Link)
News from Finland
Code School Finland offers coding, robotics and AI education at the Finnish Experience Flagship School in Malaysia (Link) and at a new school in Mexico. (Link)
Education Alliance Finland is working with governments to improve EdTech quality control (Link) and starts using Blockchain verification for their certificates. (Link)
Elias Robot won the European “Next Generation” award for digital education 2021 (Link)
HEI Schools launch first location in the US. (Link)
The Helsinki Education Hub – a flywheel for Edtech startups plus a new physical and virtual space - will open soon. (Link)
Kide Science has been named as the winner of the Education & Media Award at the 2021 TTI Global Impact Awards. (Link)
News from Iceland
I’m always looking for more EdTech news from Iceland. Please do send through any stories by replying to this email or by emailing hello@10digits.org. Thanks!
News from Latvia
Over 700 digital teaching resources have been added to the DigiKlase platform to encourage teachers to use online resources in schools. (Latvian)
A recording of last week’s Skola 2030 annual conference is now available here.
News from Lithuania
Baltic Tech Ventures has confirmed an “Investment/Consulting and Business Development Agreement” with Poklet, the children’s financial education app. (Link)
The tech philomaths newsletter has reported that Digiklase (part of the Memby group) has secured financing from Brighteye Ventures, Change Ventures and local angels.
Lukas Kaminskis, Turing College CEO, joins California State University East Bay as big data curriculum advisor. (Link)
News from Norway
Norwegian students voice concern that they’re “digital guinea pigs” (Link) as Ungdata survey data reveals that 73% of students “are bored at school.” (Link)
A recording of the recent debate on the digital gap in Norwegian schools from last week’s Arendalsuka event can be found here.
Arbeiderpartiet’s Torstein Tvedt Solberg wants to design a new national digital strategy for Norwegian schools. (Link - $$)
New report from Bouvet looks at the impact of online / digital learning on students’ privacy and data security. (Link)
Record activity levels for Kahoot in Q2 as they reach 29 million active accounts, hosting 303 million games, for more than 1.8 billion players in the last 12 months. Paid subscriptions also reached 933k. Full story here.
Great profile of Endre Olsvik Elvestad, Founder of SignLab. (Link)
News from Sweden
Five Edtech startups enter the first research accelerator for Edtech in Sweden. It’s a joint pilot between Educate, Swedish Edtest and the Swedish Edtech Industry. (Link)
AcadeMedia takes stake in EdAider’s learning platform. (Swe)
Kognity has been named as a Finalist in the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2021. (Link)
Matteappen join the Startup Sweden export programme (Swe) and extends partnership with Sweden’s National Centre for Mathematics Education. (Swe)
Öppna Skolplattformen prepares to launch in Gothenburg in the next two months. (Swe)
TicTac has received new capital investment from Bridgepoint Growth to “become the leading EdTech business for corporates across Northern Europe.” (Link)
Widely-shared but interesting article exploring how Sweden “became the Silicon Valley of Europe.” (Link)
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