Results of the Global EdTech Startups Awards (GESAwards) Final Event

Bett 2021, the world’s largest edtech event, was held online from January 20 to 22, 2021, and one of the highlights of the event was the Global EdTech Startups Awards Finals 2020 (the “GESAwards Finals 2020”). Norihisa Wada, the Executive Vice-President & COO at EduLab, participated as a final judge and award presenter. (Click here to see Mr. Wada’s profile)

GESAwards

The GESAwards, the world’s largest competition recognizing outstanding edtech startups, has been held annually since 2014. In 2020, more than 1,000 EdTech startups from 104 countries around the world participated. 23 finalists participated in the final event, making presentations after winning semifinals in their individual countries and regions. After judges, investors, and global leaders in the field deliberated, the most promising edtech startup of the year was honored.

The Global EdTech Acceleration Committee, whose administrative body is served by EduLab, organized the GESAwards Japan semifinal on November 5, 2020 prior to this final event. This year, RUN.EDGE Limited, which provides TAGURU, represented Japan in the final event.

The GESAwards Finals 2020 was held online from 2 am to 4 am on Thursday, January 21, 2021 (JST). EduLab Executive Vice-President & COO Wada took the following roles in the event:

1. Judge of the GESAwards Finals 2020
2. Chief judge and award presenter for the R&D Innovation special track (R&D section award)
3. GESAwards Steering Committee member discussing next year’s program

In addition, he took the stage to lecture during the boot camp held from January 18 to 19, 2021 for the GESAwards Finals participants.

GESAwards Finals 2020 Winners

After a careful deliberation, Slang App from Massachusetts, USA was chosen as the winner of the GESAwards Finals 2020, along with the 2nd and 3rd runners up, and the popular vote award winner shown below.

・ 1st place: Slang App (Massachusetts, USA)
・ 2nd place: Key2Enable (Brazil)
・ 3rd place: Bookful (Israel)
・ Popular Vote: Pearprogramming (Germany)

EduLab’s Mr. Wada presented the award to the winner of the R&D section, Ment.io (Israel).

For more information about the GESAwards Finals 2020, click on the following link:
https://view.genial.ly/5ffc474d03ceee0cf924bc4f

See the live streamed GESAwards Finals 2020 video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/tlznzGW7UdU

Bett 2021

Bett 2021 is the world’s largest edtech showcase, drawing educators and investors from over 146 countries and regions to London in the UK every year. People with cutting-edge technologies, case studies, and innovative ideas gather in one place with the goal of reforming education and creating a better future. More than 800 parties involved in edtech participate in lectures, discussions, and business meetings. This year, around 3,000 viewers attended the first online event in the history of Bett. The GESAwards Finals 2020, an official event held at Bett, was also able to gain more recognition.

For more information about the event, click on the following link:

https://www.bettshow.com/BettFest

Future development

The GESAwards is organized working together with MEXT’s Scheem-D (http://scheemd.mext.go.jp/). It has been decided that the Japanese representative in the GESAwards Finals R&D section will be selected from the participants of the Scheem-D project. In addition, the 2021 GESAwards Japan semifinal is scheduled to be held together with Japan Digital Days (https://digital-days.digital.go.jp/#about), which will be held to mark the establishment of the Digital Agency (provisional name) from October 10 to 11, 2021. The GESAwards is expected to continue to grow as an event driving edtech in Japan.

Moving forward, EduLab will continue to uncover, support, cooperate with, and invest in promising edtech startups, to help advance innovation in education and edtech markets in Japan and around the world.

◆EduLab, Inc.

EduLab, Inc. realizes educational solutions for the next generation based on the latest learning science, which includes building new businesses and investment in the field of Edtech, providing IT solutions and platforms for the education industry, and supporting next generation education and school management systems. We have offices in Tokyo, Seattle, Boston, New York, Dublin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Pune.