The thematic line of Edtech Entrepreneurship allows experts like you to share with the rest of the global educational community their stories of edtech entrepreneurship; success stories of implementation, collaboration, and/or co-creation of solutions; lessons learned from work in edtech entrepreneurship, etc.
The events that will occur are awards to EdTech solutions, such as TPrize and GESAwards LATAM, keynote conferences, panels with industry experts, inspiring entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs’ activities, and conversations with educational startups.
Do you know TPrize?
TPrize is an open innovation initiative of Tec de Monterrey and the Universidad de los Andes that aims to provide and promote solutions to the educational challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. TPrize does this by using Collective Intelligence to design and launch educational innovation challenges that evoke high-impact solution ideas.
TPrize 2020 Challenge
How can disadvantaged communities design and participate in lifelong skills learning opportunities to create productive and prosperous lifestyles in the 21st century?
Skills are the bargaining chip of the 21st century. The ability to acquire new skills throughout life, especially technical, social, and critical thinking skills, is crucial to full and equitable participation in the workforce.
The skills gap in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be the largest in the world. The lack of accessible, high-quality, affordable, and effective learning opportunities results in 2 out of 5 young people not studying, working, or training. Also, in this group, women are disproportionately represented.
At the same time, around 50% of formal companies in Latin America report having problems finding candidates with the necessary skills.
TPrize seeks to find and support technology solutions to close the job skills gap and promote lifelong learning opportunities in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
To achieve this, TPrize is looking for innovators with promising solutions worldwide who are already working or have plans to expand in Latin America and the Caribbean.
We seek solutions that:
- Propose new and alternative learning models that expand employability trajectories and teach soft, entrepreneurial, technical, and language skills.
- Provide equitable access to learning and training programs regardless of location, income, or connectivity in any region corner.
- Support and build capacities of formal and informal educators to better prepare Latin American students of all ages for today and tomorrow’s jobs.
- Use data to better understand the needs of employers and improve the information policies, allocation of resources, and skills of the future.
Meet the 2020 Challenge finalists
- Ser Maestr@ The “Ser Maestr@” platform has formed a network of innovators, training, and motivating many of them to become volunteer advisers to other rural teachers interested in innovating. The platform has consolidated its methodology called INNO, a tool for designing and managing projects in an easy way, with high impact. This methodology has two pillars, the design of learning projects based on the competence approach and the construction of knowledge following the complex pedagogy. The methodology promotes gradualness, diversity, and equity; it rests on an algorithm that allows the teacher to follow their design, management, and evaluation of their projects; it requires a high level of abstraction and understanding of the autonomous, creative, and learning process. Critical of the student requires including nature, community, and spirituality.
- ECOLAB 4.0 It is a low cost augmented reality 3D printing system that works with soda bottles. So young people can make advanced educational tools at a low price from plastic waste. And the constructive approach of classrooms from a Pet cement mix.
- FORTE It is a new model for financing training. This at no cost to the user or governments. Forte uses a new financial approach of its own. This model is based on the fact that training costs are generally less than the tax increase collected from taxes on this training. In essence, Forte enables each individual to pay for their training with their future taxes. Think as if “Sofia’s taxes of the future pay for Sofia’s training of the present.” With Forte, every individual receives free training, every government can help vulnerable groups improve job skills without budget losses, and investors accept low-risk returns.
- SolarSpell Solar Powered Educational Learning Library is a highly portable, solar-powered digital library that generates a Wi-Fi hotspot without the internet’s need. Any device with a wireless network can connect for free and visit the library’s contents. SolarSpell empowers communities by providing a locally relevant, education-focused, internet-free library, with no need for expensive infrastructure.
- Lab4U It is a tool for access to quality education in science for Latin America. By utilizing the smartphone technology that millions of students have in their pockets, Lab4U gives these students access to hands-on science education. Lab4U supports science teachers with tools and methodologies to put their students at the center of the learning process Lab4U solutions for science education in middle and high schools, Lab4Physics and Lab4Chemistry, take advantage of the sensors that the devices have student mobiles.
- SkillLab It is a mobile application that empowers vulnerable workers to take control of their skillset and how to identify the path to achieve their professional goals. Our artificial intelligence engine’s self-identification of goals and experiences will help users identify their skill set from a database of over 13,485 skills. It also defines the application of these skills from a record of 2,942 occupations. The primary technology is a mobile application that runs a detailed analysis to capture each individual’s job skills and automatically generate a skills profile that is directly correlated with a job.
- MicroMentor It is an accessible tool that offers a family interaction of a social-network type for entrepreneurs and mentors who want to connect for the benefit of professional growth. Business mentors can only support entrepreneurs’ businesses they meet through the platform, offering personalized mentoring while building reputation and increasing professional development that comes only from experience.
- Agricultural Biotechnology Academy An initiative that provides students from rural areas, mainly women, can formulate projects with biotechnology tools. To solve local agricultural problems with sustainable and innovative ideas. The solution helps sustainably increase agricultural development, and production is an educational program focused on young students (mainly women) from rural areas. The program encompasses a series of training in biotechnology tools and project formulation.
- ConHector It is a virtual assistant that informs young people about job and training opportunities focused on their abilities, supporting them to access new opportunities. Additionally, it offers counseling and guidance for insertion into the labor market. ConHector is part of a broader intervention that helps build young people’s skills to enter the job market with a strong focus on data analysis. This analysis helps get a better perspective, feedback for employers, youth in the program, and other agents.
- Escuela Kit Kit It is an autonomous learning application that provides the fundamentals and practices necessary for boys and girls to improve and develop literacy skills, basic math, and digital skills. Escuela Kit Kit is an educational tablet app developed by Enuma Inc. and is widely recognized for the positive impact in places like Tanzania and Bangladesh.
Do you know the Global EdTech Startup Awards?
They are a global initiative led by a group of educational innovation organizations from around the world, including Tecnológico de Monterrey (Latin America, except Brazil), EDUCATE UCL (Great Britain), LearnLaunch (United States), MindCET (Israel), EduLab (Japan), and Injini (South Africa), among others. The contest’s objective is to identify, recognize, and grow the impact of the most promising Edtech Startups in the world, those with great potential for their innovative learning solutions. Competition sponsors include Google Cloud for Startups, Amazon Web Services EdStart, and The Center for Educational Technology in Israel.
About the Latin American final
The ten edtech startups selected from the little more than 100 applications present their educational solutions to our jury of experts during the final event to be recognized as the best in the region and the opportunity to represent Latin America in the global final of the Global Edtech Startup Awards to be held in January next year at Bett London.
This year, the Latin American final will be 100% online in the International Conference on Educational Innovation 2020.
Organizers of the Latin American final
Tecnológico de Monterrey is a private, non-profit university founded in 1943, whose vision is to train leaders with an entrepreneurial spirit, human sense, and international competitiveness. It has 26 campuses in Mexico, 18 headquarters and international liaison offices globally, and an offer of 56 degrees, 12 doctorates, 57 masters and specialties, and three baccalaureate programs to attend in person to more than 93 thousand students. The institution is accredited by the University Commission of the Association of Schools and Universities of the South of the United States (SACS). According to the QS World University Rankings 2020, it is in position number 158 of the list of best universities in the world, and in the QS Graduate Employability 2020 ranking, it is no. 1 in Latin America and 40 worldwide; in the QS University Rankings: Latin America (2020) ranks number 1 in Mexico and 3 in Latin America. Likewise, it is the only university in Latin America in the Top Schools for Entrepreneurship (2018) by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur, occupying position 10 in entrepreneurship programs in bachelor’s degrees. More information about the Tecnológico de Monterrey at https://tec.mx/es
Prismapar is an investment bank and strategic consultancy recognized in the region for its education practice. Prismapar advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and business expansion. Additionally, Prismapar has raised two search funds, one for the Brazilian market and the other for CARICAM (Central America and the Caribbean). The two funds are focused on the education sector. It is currently raising its third fund and an impact fund focused on education in Latin America. Since its inception, two of Prismapar’s partners, Marcelo Burbano and Fernando Valenzuela, have been co-founders of the Global Edtech Startups Awards (“GESA”). Marcelo started organizing GESA in Latin America with the INNCUBATED team in 2014. In 2015, Fernando, who was at that time the President of CENGAGE Latin America, sponsored the competition for the region.
More information about Prismapar at http://prismapar.com/
The Global EdTech Impact Alliance is a group of entities and organizations that aim to help all stakeholders in education navigate and prosper in the dynamic and growing field of educational innovation with a unique global vision and a broad active network of ideas, experts, technologies, investors, teachers, students, new companies, governments, and institutions.
More information about the Global EdTech Impact Alliance at http://www.edtechalliance.global/
Wait for the agenda of the “EdTech Entrepreneurship” activities in #CIIETec Live 2020 soon!