Vodafone Qatar will support the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Accelerator programme. The announcement was made yesterday during the 2014 WISE summit being held at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
The WISE Accelerator is a new programme designed to support the development of innovative projects in education. It relies on the expertise of qualified mentors and partners to provide projects with effective strategies and concrete support in order to ensure their development.
This year, five projects in the EdTech field were selected to join the programme. These projects will be followed for one year, a period during which they benefit from tailor-made mentorship in order to address their specific needs.
In addition, the WISE Accelerator will serve as an intermediary to connect them to an international network that will create opportunities to share knowledge and find support from donors and investors.
Four out of the five projects, selected by a committee of five experts in the field of business and education, are in the mobile telecoms sector which shows that enterprises are increasingly aware of the importance mobile technology can play in improving people’s learning prospects and teacher–student engagement especially in emerging markets.
The selected projects that make use of mobile technology are Ustad Mobile, Sterio.me, Kytabu Textbook Subscription and Strengthening Teacher Subject Knowledge via Mobile Technology.
Vodafone aims to support the programme by mentoring the entrepreneurs, and providing professional advice in business planning, strategic development and organisation, financial planning, communication and marketing. Vodafone will also explore the funding of these projects through its commitment to innovation in mobile education and by contributing to the UN Millennium Development Goals.
“Vodafone is delighted to extend its support to the new WISE Accelerator programme and to the WISE initiative in the promotion of innovation in education. Vodafone has the required expertise for mentorship of these projects and looks forward to guiding these entrepreneurs in their quest to improve education using mobile technology,” said Kyle Whitehill,CEO, Vodafone Qatar.
“Partnering with Vodafone, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, will no doubt greatly benefit the WISE Accelerator entrepreneurs. We welcome Vodafone’s participation in the WISE community and we thank them for their support,” said Stavros Yiannouka, CEO, WISE.