New EdTech start-ups through ENTER_EdTech
13 Feb 2023
The Enter EdTech Closing Pitching event took place successfully on the 26th of January 2023 at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
ENTER EdTech is an Erasmus+ funded project aiming to train and mentor aspiring EdTech start-ups. The project's main goal is to improve the quality of entrepreneurship education around EdTech, by bringing together academic and industrial partners with entrepreneurial experience and expertise in EdTech and learning pedagogies. Also, the project aims to enable undergraduate and postgraduate students, faculty members, researchers, educators, and university alumni to become EdTech entrepreneurs. Ultimately, the project aims to improve the number of EdTech start-ups in Europe.
The participants were groups with an EdTech start-up idea, who participated in the Cypriot Learning & Innovation Hub which involved a 5-week online training and 4-day face-to-face mentoring program. Six teams completed the training and mentoring program and agreed to present at the closing pitching event.
The event was moderated by Stephanie Papalla, project manager of ENTER EdTech at CYENS Centre of Excellence.
The event kicked off with a brief presentation of the ENTER EdTech project by Dr. Andri Ioannou, Associate Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology and EdMedia Team Leader at CYENS Centre of Excellence.
Six, 5-minute pitching presentations followed: Answeropia, BCSIZING, Vitamin XR, iRESET, PlayTool and Lilith’s Child Games Studio. The ideas were pitched in front of the audience and the panel of judges.
The pitching presentations were evaluated by an exceptional panel of judges that consisted of:
Ms Angela Panayiotou, Innovation and Startups & Entrepreneurship Advisor and Member of Board of Directors at Invest Cyprus,
Mr George Malekkos, CEO and Founder of Powersoft Computer Solutions Ltd,
Mr Burak Berk Doluay, Entrepreneurship Community Manager at CYENS Centre of Excellence, and
Dr Olga Shvarova, Chief Innovation Officer at CYENS Centre of Excellence.
The teams were competing for a chance to win one of the following prizes, which were a kind sponsorship of the IDEA Innovation Center, PowerSoft Computer Solutions Ltd, European University Cyprus, GrantXpert Consulting, IED Institute of Entrepreneurship Development and JOIST Innovation Park.
First prize: A direct place to the final evaluation stage for inclusion in the programme of the 8th cycle of the IDEA Innovation Center 2023 AND Consulting/Mentoring services for the development of the business idea by PowerSoft Computer Solutions Ltd.
Second prize: A direct place in the 2nd cycle of the "Microsoft for Start-ups" program of European University Cyprus AND consulting/mentoring services for the utilization of available National and European grant programmes by GrantXpert Consulting Ltd.
Third prize: JOIST Innovation Park will provide consulting/mentoring services for the further development of a business idea AND consulting/mentoring services by the IED Institute of Entrepreneurship Development on the utilization of available European grant programs.
After pitching, and while panel of judges were deciding the winning teams, Dr. Celia Hadjichristodoulou, Founder and Managing Director of GrantXpert Consulting facilitated a panel discussion with the participants during which they had the opportunity to share their overall experience with their ENTER EdTech participation.
The event proceeded with the announcement of the winning teams, as follows:
1st Winner:
BCSIZING (www.bcsizing.com)
Team Members:
Dr Tanya Dove - CFO/Technology and business planning
Mr Edward Moura - Marketing Strategy CMO
Ms Jalice Cheng - Digital Marketing Manager
2nd Winner:
PlayTask
Team Members:
Constantinos Clark - Game Developer, co-founder
Anastasios Chatzikyriakou - Game Developer, co-founder
Athanasia Hadjichristou - UI/UX Developer, co-founder
Stefanos Kyprianou - Lawyer, co-founder
Paschalis Kontopyrgos - Educational Psychologist Assistant
3rd Winner:
Lilith’s Child Games Studio (https://lilithschildgames.wixsite.com/gamesstudio)
Team Members:
Vicky Symeonidou – Go-Founder/Game Developer
Elena Kaskiri – Co-Founder/Game Developer
The event concluded with networking over a cocktail party.
The event was co-organised by CYENS Centre of Excellence, GrantXpert Consulting, and the Cyprus University of Technology.
Stay tuned! A final closing event will take place in October 2023. Findings and experiences from six Enter EdTech Learning & Innovation Hubs across Europe will be presented at the closing event, along with upcoming developments of the project.
