From left: AWS account manager Stephen Bonney, education and research lead Rory Barrins, Learnovate director Nessa MeEniff, head of business development Linda Waters and AWS head of public sector Ireland Mark Finlay. Image: Sharppix.ie
There are 10 slots available for the EdTech Accelerator Programme, which will offer mentorship, workshops and a prize of $100,000 in AWS credits.
A new accelerator for education-focused start-ups has been announced by Ireland’s Learnovate Centre and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The two organisations are looking for 10 start-ups to join their EdTech Accelerator Programme, which will provide mentoring opportunities with experts and $2,000 worth of AWS cloud computing credits.
The accelerator is looking for early-stage start-ups that are developing digital tools and services to address education problems. Chosen participants will join a 12-week programme, receive six full-day workshops at the AWS offices in Dublin and receive access to certified AWS training.
The start-ups that join will present their ideas at a final ‘Demo Day’ event, where a winner will be chosen by Learnovate, AWS and industry judges. The winner will receive $100,000 worth of AWS credits.
The application deadline for this accelerator is 9 November and the programme begins on 5 December. Companies that wish to join must have identified a learning problem or need and have to be registered and based in the Republic of Ireland.
AWS account manager Stephen Bonney said the company is looking for opportunities to engage with the education technology community.
“This accelerator will allow us to sit down with some of the best edtech start-ups and hear about the challenges they face, the trends they’re seeing and their pain points,” Bonney said. “That way, we can understand how we might best support them in their journey.”
AWS is a patron member of Learnovate, the future of work and learning research hub based in Trinity College Dublin. Learnovate director Nessa McEniff said there are a number of early-stage start-ups in Ireland that can benefit from the “type of business and technology mentoring” that this accelerator will provide.
“As Ireland’s leading learning technology hub, Learnovate is well placed to support these businesses as they develop tech solutions to learning problems,” McEniff said.
Any start-ups that are interesting in applying for the EdTech Accelerator Programme can do so on the Learnovate website.
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