Meet 5 edtech projects about to change the world

World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)

Qatar Foundation, under the leadership of its chairperson, her highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, established the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in 2009. WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate and purposeful action. WISE has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education. Through both the Summit and a range of ongoing programmes, WISE is promoting innovation and building the future of education through collaboration.

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Image courtesy of supplier // Students working with Joko’s World interactive learning apps.

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), a leading international initiative driving innovation and collaboration in education, took to the stage at EdTechX Europe in London on 20th June to reveal the five latest projects that will join the WISE Accelerator programme. Launched in 2014, this initiative serves to support and share the development of young, innovative edtech projects with high potential for scalability and positive impact in the field of education.

The five projects will benefit from a yearlong mentorship programme tailored to address their specific needs. The WISE Accelerator also serves as an intermediary to connect these projects with an international network that creates opportunities to share knowledge and find support from donors and investors.

For EdTechX Europe, WISE organised a panel discussion featuring the startup leaders. The 30 minute session included short presentations from four leaders of the edtech startup projects that are supported by the WISE Accelerator programme. The founders shared their inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, highlighting their challenges and unique visions for education.

“The WISE Accelerator founder stories reflect the dedication and determination of these leaders, and their willingness to take risks and even to fail,” said Touhami Abi, WISE programme officer and session moderator. “Their stories show that passion alone is not enough to change the world. It must be accompanied by dedication, long working hours and the acceptance of failure as a key element in the learning curve.”

Meet the five selected innovators for the WISE Accelerator programme:

Edukasyon.ph (Philippines): Connects education and employment through the provision of online career guidance and information, helping students in the Philippines to develop a clear career path.
Chalk.com (Canada): A curriculum-management platform that allows teachers in Canada to develop their curriculum online, while also helping administrators to track the use of the curriculum.
Aflatoun Education (The Netherlands / global): An online-and-offline platform that enables teachers globally to continuously develop their teaching methods and lesson content, particularly in the field of social and financial education.
Learn Syria (Canada / Syria): Provides Syrian refugees in Turkey and Lebanon with the opportunity to continue their education through the use of the Rumie tablet, which is uploaded with curated educational materials.
Joko’s World (Australia): An interactive education mobile application that brings world cultures and intercultural understanding to the classroom through the use of games.

Innovate My School spoke with the Accelerator projects to discuss their respective visions:

Henry Motte-Muñoz, CEO of the Filipino Edukasyon.ph: “The WISE Accelerator has proven incredibly helpful. We have met countless other education leaders through introductions and conferences, and received unparalleled mentoring. The WISE Accelerator has helped us increase our reach ten-fold since joining it, and we look forward to growing further with its support."

Image credit: Edukasyon.ph

Eyal Chipkiewicz, engagement and development coordinator at the Australian ‘Joko’s World’ creator Cultural Infusion: “To date, Cultural Infusion could not be more satisfied with the sound, informative advice we have been given as part of the WISE Accelerator program. We look forward to continuing our relationship with WISE, not least because of the visibility it has given to our digital learning projects.”

Image credit: Joko’s World

William Zhou, CEO of Canadian company Chalk.com: “Collaborating with WISE and the Qatar Foundation has been incredibly fruitful for all of us at Chalk.com. The guidance, events, and international connections have assisted Chalk.com in helping schools to achieve more data driven education. WISE is advancing education worldwide by providing a platform where leading minds can share, learn, and grow.”

Image credit: Chalk.com

The latest cohort of five new projects will officially join the WISE Accelerator at a WISE engagement early next year. They will be invited to take part in specific working sessions and be offered unique networking opportunities. The future participants of the Accelerator respond to diverse issues such as teacher training, career guidance, access to quality education in refugee camps and developing students’ awareness of other cultures and teaching them tolerance and empathy through interactive games.

Image credit: Rumie

Green Shoots, an NGO focusing on technology-assisted learning within Maths in the Primary sector, is a previous Accelerator cohort. Director Jo Besford commented: “WISE has supported us to be able to prove that groundbreaking innovation can come from any context, not just from the developed world. Thanks to the WISE Accelerator, we have grown from a locally-focused organisation with great results to being able to scale our methodology to impact a region and implement a robust roadmap for long term growth and expansion. The fruit of such connections is seen in the new expansion projects we are now scoping for the next three-to-five years.”