World news story

UK Israel EdTech Task Force launched

New education technology task force to encourage innovation and investment in the UK and Israel.

Edtech

A new UK Israel EdTech Task Force was launched, bringing together knowledge and expertise from both countries to come up with recommendations on digital transformation of education systems.

The Task Force was launched in London, at a senior-level roundtable session held alongside the UK’s biggest education technologies conference, the BETT Show.

The task force initiative is a collaboration between:

  • EdTech UK
  • Israel’s MindCET education innovation centre
  • UK Israel Tech Hub – a government venture based at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv which promotes tech collaborations between the UK and Israel

The goal of the task force is to create a joint bi-lateral ecosystem, meant to voice the industry’s key issues. It will also aim to recommend policy makers in both countries on how to encourage innovation and investment, and will share best practices in this crucial field.

Participants at EdTech Task Force launch

Twenty industry leaders, from both Israel and the UK, including investors, innovators, government representatives and educational leaders took part in the launch event.

Key attendees included:

  • Lord David Puttnam, Patron of UK’s Education systems
  • Joe Mitton, Special Advisor for Business and Science at the office of the Mayor of London
  • Gila Ben Har, CEO of Israel’s Centre of Educational Technology.

Topics of discussion

This inaugural event discussion focused on the following subjects:

  • building a culture of innovation among teachers and decision makers in education
  • new models of investment and de-risking investments for capital holders
  • ways of engaging teachers and students to pilot new technology solutions for learning.
  • ole of regulation in encouraging or blocking innovative EdTech solutions

EdTech has been identified as a high potential area for UK-Israel collaboration and has been pursued by the UK Israel Tech Hub and other partners in recent activities.

Notably,in 2015 the Hub collaborated with MindCET at BETT Show, to present ground breaking EdTech startups from Israel to the UK ecosystem. That resulted in a number pf partnerships signed.

In November 2015, Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, chose to bring a delegation of UK EdTech startups on his visit to Israel focusing on business and technology collaboration.

The UK Israel Tech Hub also works closely with major UK education publishers, in order to offer them innovation solutions from Israel.

Full list of participants at the launch of the UK Israel EdTech Task Force:

Doron Liebshtein Israel Chairman & founder, Mentors Channel LTD; Founder & CEO, Coaching Interactive Endeavour
Tali Yariv Israel Director , Beracha Foundation, Israel, previously Head of Israel Educational Venture Network
Yaara Bar-on Israel Director, Oranim College
Yishai Pincher Israel Founder , CodeMonkey
Gil Almog Israel Matifico COO
Shai Buber Israel Investor and entrepreneur; VP & General Counsel, Paradigm
Gavin Dykes UK Program Director, Education World Forum
Prof. Rose Luckin UK Prof. of Learner Centre Design - London Knowledge Lab
Lord David Puttnam UK Patron of UK’s Education systems
Henry Warren UK Innovation and Product Development, Pearson
Joe Mitton UK Special Adviser for Business and Science, London Mayor’s Office, Greater London Authority
Erez Tocker UK ex- Kaplan
Simon Tobelem UK Managing Director, REALIS Investment House
Laurence Kaye UK Chair,UK Friends of the Abraham Fund Initiatives; member, International Board of the Abraham Fund; solicitor and principal, Laurence Kaye Solicitors
Gila Ben Harr Israel CEO, Centre for Educational Technologies
Guy Levi Israel Centre for Educational Technologies
Jennifer Schivas UK Partnership Project Manager, Oxford University Press
Ian Fordham UK EdTech UK
Avi Warshavsky Israel CEO, MindCET
Cecilia Waismann Israel MindCET
Ayelet Mavor UK Deputy Director, UK Israel Tech Hub, British Embassy Israel

Contacts

Contact info@ukisraelhub.com for a copy of the full report of the session.

Published 28 January 2016