Over 50 ideas accepted to the Education Innovation Hack 2021
51 of the strongest ideas were chosen on Monday to be developed into a prototype this weekend at the EdTech Hack 2021 organized by EdTech Estonia.
With a prize fund of over 15 000€, the hackathon is the most ambitious of its kind in the country, globally known as the digital tiger.
The ideas range from speech therapy apps to coding platforms. With the ideas chosen, the founders will now be vying for team members who have the skills needed to build the first prototypes. From 15th to 17th of October, over 48 hours, the teams will also be offered workshops, access to top mentors in relevant fields and pitch training to support them.
The head organiser and founder of Edumus, Maria Rahamägi explains that a good idea might be one that others don’t immediately recognize as such.
“When I pitched the idea of Edumus at the first EdTech hack 3 years ago, talking about bringing specialists to teach at schools, no-one understood the need for or value of it. But once we sent the first Edumus teachers to schools, that image began to change and I’m happy to report that today, Edumus is a valued contributor on the Estonian educational landscape.”
EdTech Hack 2021 organizers received support from the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Estonian Education and Youth Authority, Tallinn City, TalTech, Bolt, Lingvist, Telia, LHV Bank and Eesti Energia. Besides financial prizes, five teams will be receiving a three-month mentorship programme to support their further development.
One of the mentors, angel investor and venture advisor Yrjo Ojasaar recommends participating teams to think their business model through thoroughly since in reality, teachers and schools want to know very clearly what they can expect for the money they need to pay for the services.
It's still possible to register and join teams until the hack starts. Additionally, several of the events will be live-streamed for the general public, viewable both in real time on the EdTech Estonia Facebook page and rewatchable at a later point.
“The opening and closing pitch rounds on Friday and Sunday will be the most significant moments since we’ll be seeing how much the teams have grown and developed over the weekend in their pitches,” says Märt Aro, chairman of the EdTech Estonia board and one of the organizers. “It will be pretty amazing.”
More information: https://hack.edtechestonia.org/
