Croatian startup helping people with dyslexia a finalist in awards in Spain

MADRID, September 25th, 2020 – A Croatian startup is one of 12 finalists in the 3rd edition of the enlightED Awards 2020 in Spain. 

The jury has chosen 12 projects from among 458 candidates from 57 countries as the best in education, innovation and edtech with Croatia’s Omoguru among them. 

Zagreb-based startup Omoguru has developed a solution for people with dyslexia. Omoguru’s team of speech therapists, designers, typographers, dreamers, and innovators is finding new ways to deliver a comfortable reading experience to dyslexics and people with reading difficulties.

Their system solves every challenge of people with dyslexia with the only system of dynamic sources that covers the needs of each individual. Together, the reading tools help improve the pace, focus and speed and are available on the web and for smartphone.

Other startup finalists provide solutions to improve the practice of English and learning other languages; a proposal for children to learn to code and manage computer thinking; interactive and gamma classes; intelligent and personalized tutors for use online and in real-time; tools to enable learning centers to digitize their high-risk assessments; others that facilitate the design and creation of visual elements; a classroom with the latest resources for teachers; a 360-degree learning platform and a system that connects people to knowledge through AI. 

The proposals have been submitted and assessed online by a selection committee made up of an international network of investors, entrepreneurs, and experts in different industries. Among the criteria for the final selection, the innovative character, viability, and scalability among others stand out.

The twelve projects:

Aba English: (Spain). A new learning model based on an innovative educational approach, the Smart Learning® method, the pillars of which are personalization, student interaction, and live experiences.

Buddy  (United States). This mobile application helps children to practice English through conversation with Buddy the Robot, a virtual cartoon character powered by artificial intelligence. 

Cypher (United Kingdom). A system that teaches children aged between six and 14 to code, engaging them through creative, real-life issues and equipping them with an understanding of computer thinking, preparing them for an increasingly digital future.   

Edusynch (United States). Provides a customizable online assessment solution, including in-depth analysis and AI-driven remote monitoring, allowing educational institutions to digitize high-risk assessments. 

Genially  (Spain). An all-in-one design tool that allows users to create and share engaging, interactive and animated content online. It creates and enriches presentations, infographics, game experiences, etc. 

Kimple  (Spain). An innovative educational market with classroom dynamics for teachers, created by experts and authors from around the world, focused on emerging knowledge and skills needed in today’s world. 

Omoguru (Croatia). This system solves every challenge of people with dyslexia with the only system of dynamic sources that covers the needs of each individual. Together, the reading tools help improve the pace, focus and speed and are available on the web and for smartphone. 

Poliglota (Chile). A new way of learning a language, focused on practice, both online and face-to-face, based on conversation and guided by expert teachers. 

Smile and Learn (Spain). A 360-degree adapted learning platform, it is designed for children aged between three and 12 and includes more than 5,000 activities, in 250 applications and 30 videos, which reinforce the curriculum, language learning, neuroeducation, and social-emotional skills. 

Tomi  (Colombia). This online subscription includes a free device that allows teachers to offer interactive and game-oriented classroom content, even in classrooms with little or no internet connection. 

Korbit (Canada). A smart, personalized, interactive, real-time tutor designed to scale for thousands of courses and millions of students, that will be able to help them greatly by contributing to the democratization of education.

Zapiens (Spain). A system to connect people and knowledge with human-centered AI systems that boosts the acquisition of new knowledge and resolve issues. 

The 12 selected startups will compete for awards in the following categories: the IE University Award for the Best Startup in Higher Education, Fundación Telefónica Award for the Startup With the Best Technological Solution for Learning and Education, Fundación Santillana Award for the Startup with the Greatest Social Impact on Education, and the Wayra Award for the Startup With the Greatest Scalability. 

In addition, given the exceptional health situation we are experiencing and the consequences it is having on education, this year two new specific categories have been created: Startup with the Best Solution During COVID; and Most Innovative Teacher COVID.

About enlightED Virtual Edition 2020

Fundación Telefónica, IE University, Fundación Santillana and South Summit have once again joined forces to organize enlightED Virtual Edition 2020, the debate on post-COVID Education, with a new virtual, interactive format and greater international reach.

The third edition of this global conference on education, technology and innovation will bring together between 19 and 23 October, the most relevant international experts and thinkers to share solutions to meet the challenges Covid-19 has posed to learning and work in our societies, drawing practical conclusions related to the wider debate on education in the post-COVID world.

Over the course of the five-day program more than 90 experts from around the world will interact with attendees, creating a conversation exploring the major themes of the moment with the focus on education during the crisis, innovations in corporate learning, the opportunities and risks of K12 education, new models of higher education and challenges for EdTech.

The events, held virtually, will take place between 16:00 and 20:30 GMT+1, which can be followed on enlightED.education via live streaming, coordinated from the Movistar Studies, with presentations from several countries of the world, workshops from the IE University Wow Room and round tables from the Auditorium of the Telefonica Foundation.  

Fundación Telefónica, the social side of the digital age

Fundación Telefónica has been working since 1998 to drive social inclusion in the digital era, mobilizing other social agents to join forces and drive the transformation. It seeks to improve development opportunities through educational, social and cultural projects, working in four strategic areas: education, as a vehicle for social transformation, exploring, inspiring and transforming teaching models to end the educational gap; employability, helping people find job opportunities and retrain; digital culture, creating and sharing cultural and technological knowledge through different initiatives related to science, innovation, art and STEAM learning; and corporate volunteering, mobilizing our employees, based in 32 countries through Telefónica Volunteers to carry out solidarity projects that respond to social needs.

About IE University

IE University offers a technology-based learning ecosystem for leaders seeking to make a difference in the world through innovation, a global vision, an entrepreneurial mindset and a unique approach based on the Humanities. IE University’s faculty of more than 500 academics currently teach degrees, master’s programs, doctorates and executive training to students from 131 countries. IE University’s platform of more than 60,000 alumni is present in 165 countries.

About South Summit

South Summit is today recognized as the global platform for innovation and high-value connections between key players in the global ecosystem, startups, corporations and investors for real business generation. The initiative created by Spain Startup in 2014 is based in Madrid and has extended its network around the world. South Summit 19, held in Madrid, brought together more than 20,000 attendees, including 6,500 startups, 6,700 corporations and 1,100 investors with a portfolio of approximately $120 billion. Finalists from previous editions have attracted more than $3.2 billion in investment, in addition to closing many agreements with corporations in different productive sectors. 

About the Santillana Foundation

Since its creation in 1979, the Santillana Foundation has been promoting educational and cultural projects related to the world of publishing, information and education. With offices in Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Brazil, its work has an impact on 21 Latin American countries. Through its Ed21 program, Fundación Santillana promotes educational debate on the skills and competencies that our students need to meet the challenges of today’s society, with the aim of generating a collective body of knowledge that brings together ideas, reflections, proposals and aspirations of the entire Latin American educational community. It also promotes, together with the Autonomous University of Madrid, a Master’s degree in Governance and Human Rights, organized by the Jesús de Polanco Chair of Ibero-American Studies.