Schools could win share of £17,500 in Cool Initiatives edtech challenge

Are you a bright spark with a brilliant educational technology idea that could change the way we teach and learn in schools and drive up educational outcomes? If so Cool Initiatives wants to hear from you! Cool Initiatives, premier early stage investor in education and edtech, has just launched The Cool Initiatives Education Challenge 2019 . It’s giving away a total of £17,500 – no financial strings attached – to students, teachers or early-stage startups that offer an innovative edtech solution to change the face of education as we know it today.

The top prize of £10,000 will be awarded to the winner, £5,000 to the runner up, £500 to each of the four finalists and £500 to the winner of The People’s Choice category. Entry is super simple – all you need to do is provide online your responses to a series of questions and submit a short two-minute video pitch.  The deadline for entries is Friday 8^th March.

The judges are looking for an edtech solution aimed at servicing early years to secondary education that addresses one or more of the following three challenges for technology identified by Damian Hinds, Secretary of State Education, in August 2018:

·         Teaching practices to support access, inclusion, and improved learning outcomes for all; 

·         Assessment processes to become more effective and efficient;

·         Administration processes to reduce the burden of ‘non-teaching’ tasks.

Rolled out nationwide, the competition is open to entrants who just have an idea, those who may be in full/part-time work, those who have already started their own business, and early-stage startups that are sole traders, a limited company or a partnership with no external equity-based finance.

The shortlist will be announced on Friday 22^nd March, finalists on Friday 26^th April and The People’s Choice Award on Friday 10^th May when voting on this category closes. The winners will be announced on Friday 17^th May.

Commenting on the competition, philanthropist and Founder of Cool Initiatives Jon Thornes MBE said: “Many schools have told us that they’re crying out for better edtech solutions to help them spend less time preparing, monitoring, assessing and accounting, and more time teaching.

“We’re seeking to support, develop and invest in ideas or edtech startups that will help schools and teachers to operate more efficiently and effectively.”

To enter the edtech challenge please click on the link here.