Innovation and startups powering education: Shaping the future of Higher Education

The emergency following the spread of COVID-19 has also radically transformed the education paradigm, with new teaching and learning models that are more open and versatile. It is within this context that Luiss Guido Carli University and LVenture Group launched an Open Innovation project in EdTech. It began with a call titled “Shaping the Future of Higher Education” and today concludes with the announcement of the winners. 

A total of 115 applications were submitted for the selection process, including 92 startups and 23 teams. As  Luigi Capello, CEO of LVenture Group, points out: “Participation was well above expectations and of an international caliber, reflecting the technological buzz in the world of Education Technology. In 2020, thanks to the acceleration of distance learning, venture capital investments doubled compared to 2019, reaching a record $16.1 billion globally. Finally, Capello concluded: “The collaboration with an established, internationally renowned partner like Luiss undoubtedly bolsters the potential of the selected startups.”

35% of the applications for the Luiss Open Call come from abroad. This result also stems from collaboration with global players, including Collider (a Swiss incubator) and GESA (the Global EdTech Startup Award), the world's largest competition for EdTech startups, with which Luiss will partner in the coming months.

The four winning projects of Shaping the Future of Higher Education are:

• Magma Learning, a startup that has developed a personalized learning system for each student, powered by Artificial Intelligence; 
• Wyblo, founded by a team of Italians based in Switzerland, has created an app to engage students in the learning experience through feedback and instant polls; 
• ARMarket, a new augmented reality content creation startup, is developing solutions to innovate the process of selecting and admitting students to university courses; 
• 1001, a startup that has created an app for direct connections between students and graduates with a network of “buddies”—managers and corporate professionals—who are ready to provide guidance and tips for a smoother transition into the workforce.

Each of the winning startups will collaborate with Luiss to refine their proposals and develop new solutions for higher education through pilot projects for students and the academic community.

Once this initial phase is complete, efforts will focus on large-scale deployment. To promote their business idea, the winners will be able to leverage corporate partners, stakeholders, and the university’s network, starting with Luiss Alumni 4 Growth (LA4G).

“The world of education must necessarily embrace every form of change, seizing all the opportunities offered by new technologies,” states Giovanni Lo Storto, Luiss’s General Director. He adds, “With these projects, we are reaffirming the open innovation strategy that defines our university, especially in a year like this—one marked by the pandemic—when the development of digital platforms and infrastructure has accelerated. The success of this initiative with LVenture Group is further proof of that.” 

Finally, the university, supported by Confindustria, will be the focus of a “Special Track” dedicated to higher education, titled “Next Gen Higher Education.”

“The future of education looks to a new collaborative relationship between humans and technology,” comments the University’s Rector, Andrea Prencipe, adding, “It’s precisely this virtuous interaction that gives rise to the need to innovate educational tools and models. At Luiss, we are making this happen through a new approach to study and research called inquiry-based learning, which encourages our students to think critically, frame problems, and solve them. In this context, platforms and technologies also become central to fostering unprecedented forms of Open Innovation collaboration.”