Nordic EdTech News #9 : 2019-12-16
Your Week 50 update from the Nordic & Baltic EdTech ecosystems
Welcome to this final Nordic EdTech News of 2019! This is a change from our usual fortnightly publishing schedule as I wanted to squeeze in one more newsletter before taking a break for Christmas.
In addition to the usual roundup of news from across the Baltic and Nordic EdTech ecosystems, this newsletter also carries an exclusive interview with Charles Madon, Partner EMEA, at Lego Ventures. It’s a great introduction to their unique investment model - you can read the full interview here.
Nordic EdTech News returns to subscriber inboxes on 6th January 2020, so please follow us on Twitter where we’ll be keeping an eye on any developments over the festive season.
Finally, huge thanks to everyone who has supported Nordic EdTech News since we launched back in September - it’s hugely appreciated!
Enjoy a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Best regards, Jonathan
Regional news
Lots of reaction and reporting from Reimagine Education (see #Reimagine19 across social). Betwyll, a xEdu alumni, provide a useful summary report. (Link)
Congrats to the Nordic EdTech companies whose achievements were recognised at the Reimagine Education Awards. (Link)
The European Centre for Policy Studies and the Grow with Google programme launched their ‘European Readiness for Digital Lifelong Learning’ report last week. It found that Estonia, Finland (and the Netherlands) excel in their digitalisation of education. (Link)
FT Special report on business education highlights how the Nordics lead the way in green business education (Link) and the changing role of EdTech. (Link)
This NYT article has been widely shared and discussed but it’s a great piece on business and life in Finland (and more generally the Nordics). (Link)
Plenty of useful insights into the strength of the Nordic and Baltic startup ecosystem in this PwC survey. (Link)
The Startup Wise Guys accelerator, working with EIT Digital, launch the Baltic Startup Scene Report (Link). Lots to digest here including the finding that Baltics outperform the Nordics in terms of per capita startup funding. (Link)
Global trends
AWS have announced the finalists in the Amazon Alexa EdTech Skills Challenge. (Link)
Latest EdTech marketing guide published by Brighteye Ventures. Great intro to marketing experimentation from David Arnoux @ Growth Tribe. (Link)
Over the past 6 weeks, over 4000 teachers across Europe have worked with the Games in School initiative, supporting the classroom use of video games. (Link)
Founder Collective outline how to scale a startup. Invaluable advice for any EdTech Founder here. (Link)
Really useful insights on impact measurement from Reach Capital, an early-stage US EdTech investor. (Link)
News from Denmark
Good summary of CanopyLAB’s first hackathon (Link) as they launch online courses in collaboration with the HER Foundation. (Link)
DAMVAD Analytics win a global Bronze medal in AI in education at Reimagine Education for their Predictive Student Success product. (Link)
Eduflow launch their new blog with their CEO commenting on ‘How student collaboration can supercharge learning in your online course.’ (Link)
See how Birkerød Gymnasium uses Fable robots to teach mathematics. (Den, Eng)
KUBO launch new Christmas coding resources (Link) and outline how teachers can break down the barriers to coding in the classroom. (Link)
Labster have been included in a 2019 funding round-up by Silicon Canals. (Link)
The Villum Fonden and the Novo Nordisk Foundation have jointly pledged DKK 21.3 million to conduct a nationwide study into children and young people’s interest in science and technology. (Link)
News from Estonia
99Math’s International Maths Game was a great success in the EU and the US.
Clanbeat raises $1.2 M led by Taizo Son at Mistletoe to fuel expansion. (Link)
DreamApply publish new case study outlining the impact of their work with the Finnish Edunation campaign. (Link)
How Estonia uses its education budget to deliver great results. (Link)
Estonia's Minister of Education and Research, Mailis Reps outlines the secret of their PISA success, via @TheEducatorAU. (Link)
The future usage of educational data dominated last week’s Global Education Industry Summit. Useful summary here.
LIFT99 and Startup Estonia launch the Estonian Startup Awards 2019! (Link)
School leaders from Microsoft’s EU Showcase Schools gathered in Tallinn. Follow #EduDay #SCSEU19 on social for more.
The success of Estonia’s education system was reiterated at the Learning and Teaching Expo in Hong Kong. (Link)
News from Finland
Delivering phenomenon-based learning in the Finnish classroom. (Link)
How to get funding and go global - interesting event for companies organised by Edtech Meetups Finland and PINO Network. Sign up here.
As part of Finland’s Presidency of the EU Council, the Elements of AI course will be translated to all official EU languages and made available across the EU. (Link)
Pilot by Finnish Education Solutions shows significant impact with young learners in Malaysia using the Moomin Language School programme. (Link)
Lyfta win big at Reimagine Education Awards, claiming the Overall EdTech Award and the ICT tools for teaching and learning category. Congrats! (Link)
Positive Learning present to Thai educators about Finnish education and 21st century skills. (Link)
News from Iceland
Further coverage on Kara Connect’s CEO Thorbjorg Helga and their latest funding round and expansion. (Link)
The Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð - the Christmas book flood - makes it to the UK in a new initiative from the National Literacy Trust. (Link)
News from Latvia
Great to see teachers being recognised for their work at the Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association (LIKTA) Awards. (Latvian)
#Neklusē programme co-founder Marika Andžāne invites schools, students and parents to complete a mobbing survey. (Lat, Eng).
This year, for the first time, the National Centre for Education (VISC) is offering educational institutions the choice of completing a mathematics diagnostic job online or in writing. (Lat, Eng)
News from Lithuania
BitDegree has been nominated in the Learning and Education category at the World Summit Awards. (Link)
Brighteye Ventures lead latest funding round of €2.5 million for GOSU.AI, who have an AI-driven video coach. (Link)
Startup Lithuania’s 2019 ‘Wrap up of the Year’ event reports strong growth across the startup ecosystem. (Link)
News from Norway
Great interview with Kristoffer Hundershagen, CEO and Founder of Eduplaytion in Shifter. (Nor, Eng)
A special game of Kahoot! was played at the UN to celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights. (Link)
Lær Kidsa Koding report that over 60,000 students in nearly 1,000 schools had signed up for #kodetimen this week! (Link)
Microsoft Norge hosted #techxoslo - lots of coverage on this hashtag across social.
The debate about the use of digital devices in schools continues in the national media. (Nor, Eng)
News from Sweden
Digilär consider the differences between listening to and reading a piece of content. (Swe, Eng)
Sigbritt Karlsson, President of KTH Royal Institute of Technology is one of the guests on The Edtech Podcast’s "HigherEd & Tech in 2019 and Beyond." (Link)
Prion, a app for preschool parents and practitioners raise SEK4.4M from Icebreaker.vc, Propel Capital and angel investors. (Swe, Eng)
Story Wars launches Story Duel as a new school-facing proposition. (Link)
Strawbees update learning platform with new activities and lesson resources (here) and host webinar tomorrow (Tuesday 17th Dec) here.
Nine new members join Swedish Edtech Industry. (Swe, Eng)
Register interest in Swedish EdTest, the new national test bed for EdTech here.
Two new Swedish government assignments are announced to develop common national digital infrastructure. (Swe, Eng)
Thanks for reading and see you again on 6th January 2020!
Best regards, Jonathan
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