Deadline: April 30, 2019
Applications are invited for the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Accelerator Programme 2019-2020. The WISE Accelerator supports innovative initiatives developing solutions in education technology with high potential for scalability and positive impact.
Each year, the selected initiatives join the one-year program, during which they benefit from tailor-made support to address challenges that hinder their growth and scaling up process. In addition, the WISE Accelerator assists the selected initiatives to connect with an international network of education stakeholders and create opportunities to share knowledge and find support among potential partners, donors and investors during international events organized by WISE.
Finally, the selected initiatives will be matched with mentors who are experts in education, education technology and leaders in their field. Mentors will support the selected initiatives with advice, guidance and connections to different education and business stakeholders.
Program Structure
The year-long program is designed to assess and meet the initiatives’ needs as fully and precisely as possible in order to bring them to the next stage of development and scale up.
Key milestones in the 2019-2020 program are:
- Kick-off: Selected initiatives participate in the program kick-off to be held during WISE 2019 Summit in Doha, Qatar where they will benefit from workshops, masterclasses and networking opportunities.
- Needs Assessment: The WISE Accelerator team will evaluate the initiatives’ priority needs and identify optimal ways to address them.
- Tailor-made Support: This phase corresponds to the rollout of the mentorship and training provided by the WISE Accelerator team and partner organizations, combining both face-to-face meetings and mostly distance, personalized sessions.
- Mentorship: The WISE Accelerator team will match each selected initiative with mentors selected from a WISE community of over 50,000 education stakeholders. These mentors will advise, guide and support the initiatives in their growth. Often, the mentors are CEO’s and directors of for profit and non-profit education initiatives.
- Ongoing communication and visibility: The selected initiatives benefit from ongoing communication and international exposure, as well as from networking opportunities throughout the year. This takes place via WISE media platforms and international events.
- Program Closing: The program closing will also take part at a WISE international event in order for the selected initiatives to benefit from further opportunities for support, networking and international visibility. In the past, the international events took part in major cities such as Paris, New York or Madrid.
- Follow-up and Evaluation: During the selection process and following the conclusion of the program, the WISE Accelerator team will administer surveys to the shortlisted applicants as well as selected initiatives in order to evaluate the progress made over the year by the selected and non-selected initiatives with the aim to evaluate the impact of the program. The WISE Accelerator will collect information on the initiatives’ growth every six months for two years. At the end of two years from finishing the program, The WISE Accelerator team will collect information on the initiatives’ growth once a year. All information collected will be anonymized and collected with the permission of the initiatives.
Eligibility
- The WISE Accelerator supports innovative edtech initiatives that have a high potential for scalability and positive impact in education;
- Initiatives addressing education challenges through the use and/or design of technology in all sectors and regions are welcome to apply. Initiatives in this particular field may cover a wide range of activities. From the conception of apps and digital games to the creation of online platforms or the design of new curricula and pedagogies integrating technology;
- All for profit and non-profit edtech initiatives that are using or linking technology to their DNA are invited to apply;
- Ideal candidates for the WISE Accelerator must be existing edtech initiatives at an early stage of development, with the following attributes:
- Established for at least one year;
- A growing number of beneficiaries or customers;
- A record of activities with a product or service that has been implemented and beyond proof of concept;
- Existing revenues;
- A dedicated team, with an established physical space or office;
- Deep knowledge of the market/educational context and of their beneficiaries’ or customers’ needs;
- Motivation to develop further;
- Understanding of the initiative’s current challenges.
Selection Criteria
Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria:
- The Team: The WISE team will assess the team’s ability to execute and deliver on their vision
- The Solution: The WISE team will assess how well the solution developed by the initiative addresses the problem that the initiative aims to solve
- The Innovation: The WISE team will assess how innovative is the solution developed by the initiative in light of solutions developed worldwide in the edtech sector
- The educational impact: The WISE team will assess the educational impact that the initiative may have as it scales up
- The Market: The WISE team will take into consideration the potential of the edtech market where the initiative operates
Application
Applicants should read the application guidelines before submitting the online application.
For more information, visit WISE Accelerator.
