The beginning of a new year is a great time to look back at the crazy year we have left behind.
2020 was unprecedented. Just WOW. Our members have done an amazing job supporting learners and teachers with distance learning solutions and have seen crazy growth numbers, some growing 3000+%. In addition, so many amazing ecosystem initiatives have been undertaken.
TeachMillions.org – our regional Covid response which 125 companies joined to donate their solutions to support learners and teachers in need of distance learning tools. The initiative has been noticed globally. Many of our members worked tirelessly to set this up. Peter, Tõnis, Kelly, Mikkel, Heini, Mervi, Neil, Ginvile, Karen, Liisel & Karin and Märt. In total more than 50 volunteers have contributed.
In September EdTech Lithuania was started by Ginvile, Danielius, Monika and Rasa & co. In December EdTech Estonia was launched by Maria, Kadri, Rasmus & co including 28 Estonian EdTech companies. The latter signed a cooperation agreement with the government and secured funding for 2 years.
As an inspiration, Every Student Online co-founded by N8 board member Maria enabled every Estonian student to study from a distance. In the first month of distance learning 1600 devices were provided to families in need and by the end of 2020 more than 2000 devices have been provided. The initiative has now been passed over to a local NGO as every year around 500 families need additional devices to facilitate learning at home.
A similar initiative also started during Hack the Crisis in Lithuania. Mokykla Namuose collected around 2500 used devices to distribute and 100K eur in donations from private companies for families in need.
24 editions of Nordic EdTech News were published by N8 board member Jonathan, promoting awareness of the amazing companies and EdTech innovation taking place across the N8 region. Over 3,000 news stories highlighting investment, international expansion, growth and partnerships were identified and promoted to the newsletter’s global EdTech community.
HolonIQ identified the top 50 Nordic and Baltic EdTech startups including 22 N8 members. Jonathan and Nordic EdTech News supported the initiative. It was the first time Nordics had its own listing. Sari and Jonathan from the N8 board gave talks at the launch event.
Had a great N8 speed dating event led by Ginvile. In total 48 speeddates were arranged to create a more connected EdTech community. Looking forward to more events like that.
An excellent N8 webinar on EdTech sales was arranged by Kadri, Ginvile, Sari and Jonathan. With a whopping 370 participants.
We were happy to see the new EdTech Evolution accelerator organised by Martins & Kristians. From N8 side we supported with mentors, knowhow and connections.
Ambitious Africa program launched by N8 member Peter Vesterbacka. Throughout the year it has created countless opportunities for building relationships between active people from across Africa and the N8 region.
Innumerable mentoring meetings happened between N8 members to support each-other by sharing experience and learning from each other. Do share your stories of your best and worst experiences in the forum.
N8 members and the board spoke at 100+ global conferences. One included 14 ministers of education in the audience. Some of the talks have been on crucial topics for EdTech startups, for example Sari gave a talk at the HundrEd event on “How to get funding“.
There is a rising interest in N8’s work from international and national organisations.
- In cooperation with UN we co-authored a vision for EdTech ecosystem development
- Contributed to vision for Next Gent GovTech, by Estonian CTO
- Contributed to further development of European EdTech Alliance
- Furthered dialogue with the World Bank, OECD, EU, and many others.
We have seen so many amazing things being done in our region. Our strong belief is that together in the N8 region we can achieve a lot more for the betterment of life on our “pale blue dot”.
In January 2021 we’ll start the new N8 Board election process. If you would like to contribute to education innovation development in the N8 region, do not hesitate to let us know.
Thank you very much! It would not have been possible without you!
Your N8 Board of 2020
Maria Rahamägi – Founder at Edumus
Jonathan Viner – Founder at 10Digits, Publisher of Nordic Edtech News
Sari Hurme-Mehtälä – CEO & Co-founder at Kide Science
Peter Fagerström – CEO & Founder at Educraftor
Ginvile Ramanauskaite – Head of Product & B2B at BitDegree
Märt Aro – Co-founder at Dream Apply, Chairman of the board at N8
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