EdTech Estonia and the Ministry of Education and Research recognise outstanding educational innovators
On the occasion of EdTech Estonia’s third birthday, the most outstanding educational innovators of the past year were recognized.
According to Märt Aro, Chairman of the Board of EdTech Estonia, efforts have been made in cooperation with the state to increase the next generation of educational innovators. "In four years, the number of companies and teams developing educational solutions in Estonia has doubled to more than 80. All these innovators want to support both teachers and learners through modern solutions." Aro added that empowering teachers with new tools is also becoming increasingly important in improving the quality of the learning environment in general.
Today, EdTech Estonia brings together 53 education innovation developers and promoters. They all share common goals: to personalize education in Estonia and beyond; to create opportunities for researchers to engage in the development of EdTech companies; and to work with both the private and public sector to improve funding for education innovation companies to further their export competency.
"Estonia's education technology companies are the future trendsetters. The opportunities they create will help learners cope with the changing environment and transform the way we think about education. The fact that we have so many good home-grown makers around us has opened a new window for the modernization of education." According to Aro, by 2030, they want to increase the number of companies steering educational innovation to 200. "Already today, we are able to empower teachers by making the teaching materials more exciting, by helping them prepare engaging lessons and by supporting the personal development of each learner through individual learning analytics," he said.
The Minister of Education and Science, Kristina Kallas, also recognizes that educational technology is an important factor in the successful modernization of the Estonian education system. "The new education model requires a self-directed learner and a teacher who knows how to support this. Above all, it means a more appropriate and meaningful use of both the student's and the teacher's time. I think that educational technology should help free teachers' working time from routine tasks and automatable activities." Kallas noted that with the emergence of AI-based applications, many existing ways of learning and teaching must be reevaluated. "I believe that in cooperation with EdTech developers, researchers and school teachers, it will be possible for Estonia to advance in terms of educational innovation as quickly and efficiently as in the early 90s in digital banking," she added.
Kelly Lilles, CEO of ALPA Kids, which was awarded the "Most promising newcomer" award, emphasized the importance of the event, saying that this kind of recognition is very motivating for creators. "The ALPA team and I are grateful that our activities and rapid global expansion have been noticed. Today, we are already active in five countries and we will vigorously continue developing high-quality digital learning games in even more languages."
The following edtech enthusiasts were awarded at the 3rd EdTech Estonia birthday ceremony:
- "Rising star": Praktikal, a solution for conducting physics and chemistry lessons. In less than two years, Praktikal has reached almost half of Estonian elementary schools and is actively growing in Germany.
- “Fastest growth”: The interactive finance game Cashy has started collaborating with seven US banks in the last few months and has crossed the 100,000 user mark.
- "Most promising": ALPA Kids designs educational games for preschoolers to support them in learning languages, mathematics and other important areas. They have reached more than a million users worldwide.
- "Biggest encourager": Maria Rahamägi, leader of Edumus, an online school including top specialists in their extracurricular studies programme.
- “Supporter of the year”: Oleg Shvaikovsky (Aristotle) has invested in half a dozen teams in recent years.
- "Biggest friend": Aivar Hiio (Ministry of Education and Science) has tirelessly contributed to the improvement of communication between grassroot teams and the ministry for years.
- "EdTech Spirit": Sabina Sägi, who in addition to promoting scientific cooperation hosts an educational technology podcast.
EdTech Estonia represents 53 education innovation teams and companies. In its activities, they are focused on increasing the offspring of education innovation, researching educational innovation and cooperating with the state, universities, companies and other related groups. Activities are carried out by various partners, such as the Ministry of Education and Research, the Education and Youth Board and KredEx SA's startup unit Startup Estonia.
