Dive Brief:
- Pennsylvania State University is seeking entrepreneurs with product ideas that would solve problems for educators at all levels, including tech that advances pedagogy in online labs and virtual reality.
- The university announced its partnership with established accelerator Dreamit this week, soliciting applications from startups for a March 2016 launch of Dreamit EdTech, which will offer four months of support as entrepreneurs develop their ideas and de-risk their fledgling companies.
- Penn State is seeking educational technology ideas tied to student support, career services, analytics, and interventions, among other areas, and expects students and faculty to benefit from the accelerator for internship and research opportunities.
Dive Insight:
Ed tech is a booming business, breaking investment records year after year. In just the first half of 2015 alone, investors had dumped more than $2.5 billion into the sector, topping total investment for all of 2014.
In programs like the one at Penn State and also University of Virginia's Jefferson Education Accelerator at its Curry School of Education, entrepreneurs can benefit from the research and testing expertise in schools of education as well as the capital and scale capabilities of accelerators. Any innovations that come out of the accelerators can directly benefit the teaching and learning at the host institutions and increase their prestige in the higher education sector more generally.