Hong Kong is well placed as an education technology nexus in the region’s Greater Bay Area, as edtech accelerates digital learning worldwide, according to several experts who spoke at the recent Edventures GBA Summit, November 4, spearheaded by Esperanza founder John Tsang (photo), a former financial secretary of the HKSAR.
The sector is ripe
for disruption after a slow start in this digital century. Edtech spending of
$200 billion has lagged in the $6 trillion education market.
“We are
in a very interesting inflection point in the evolution of our species that will
have a profound impact on education and the future of the world,” said Kamran Elahian, Chairman and Founder of
Global Innovation Catalyst, a successful serial entrepreneur, a cross-border
venture capitalist who is known as i-Ghandi for his work in bridging the
digital divide for children around the world. He pointed out that
Teachers are learning how to use technology effectively to personalize lessons and empower students to design their learning, pointed out Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and a former Obama education official. Elliott Masie, chairman of the Learning Consortium, who is widely credited with the term 'e-learning,' highlighted the importance of designing experiential learning for the workforce so that learning becomes more creative and collaborative.
Edtech is fast progressing now as a game changer with AI, robotics, data analytics and mobile technologies applied to learning. “There is a common perception that edtech is used primarily to nurture digital literacy. “Literacy, 21st century skills and numeracy are the top three skills that edtech innovations can address,” said Esperanza founder Tsang, citing a Brookings Institution study.
In China, the education market has
grown to as much as 6-7% of the country’s GDP and it’s poised to become the world’s biggest and the
fastest growing edtech market as venture capital and talent flows in. A threefold increase in China’s digitization
index has occurred in the past five years, according to the Tencent Research
Institute.
Out of 14 edtech unicorns globally (privately
held venture-backed companies worth at least $1 billion), eight are from China, according to market intelligence firm HolonIQ. Yuanfudao recently nabbed an after-deal valuation of $13 billion to become the
most valuable edtech unicorn worldwide.
As part of the Edventures summit and a related fellowship, 10 growth stage edtech finalists pitched to a panel of judges, with four awardees: CoderZ Technology is Israel, Cybint in Israel/US, MEL Science in the UK, and Mandarin Matrix in Hong Kong. A virtual expo is showcasing their work until November 22, at bit.ly/Edgba_Summit2020. The fellows will get support in connecting with local localization partners, investors, markeet entry advisors and adopters of their solutions.
Silicon Dragon
founder/editor Rebeca Fannin moderated a panel on China market opportunities
with Dr. Simon Leung (Vice Chairman,
NetDragon), Dr. Steven Li (Vice Dean,
Tencent Research Institute) and Julian
Fisher (Vice Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce, Beijing). Dr. Li commented that many education
innovations take place outside the school systems with fewer government
regulations. The key market opportunities include pre-school, teacher training, homework and mental health. “A
broader trend is research-backed edtech because parents and governments want
results. They want to know that (the offering) is actually based on research
and not just sales driven or marketing driven,” he said.
Dr. Leung added that one of the few areas that
is encouraged for foreign players is vocational education. He also pointed out
that parents are increasingly interested in their children developing soft
skills.
Pointing to an advantage held by Hong
Kong in the edtech market, Tencent’s Dr. Li noted that while good quality
content is in short supply in China, Hong Kong has a lot of good content to
offer because of its concentration of good schools and universities. With their
internationally acclaimed research capability, Hong Kong universities could
also play the very important role of supporting, evaluating and validating
edtech solutions, he said.
A separate panel facilitated by
Jumpstart Media CEO Relena Sei brought in Elahian plus two investors Bill Ning,
founding partner of Blue Elephant Capital and Matt Greenfield, managing partner
of Rethink Education. Ning said that good education companies are labor
intensive businesses, where growth would be slower than a typical tech
investment. Greenfield added that while the return could take long to realize,
the loss ratio is lower. The successful
startups are often those with a social mission working on a peripheral
innovation to solve a problem that no one is working on, he remarked.
For
startups interested in entering the China market, these tips were offered by
the expert speakers:
· Be realistic about the market, the price points, the competition, what
value can be added, the government regulations and the resources required
·
Segment the market and look for the right partners to work with and
localize the offering
· Place senior members of the team locally
In summary, Esperanza founder and former HKSAR financial secretary John Tsang said that successful edtech applications demand a fundamental change in the mindset of educators, parents and the community at large. It requires effective collaborations among a complex and interconnected web of players outside the classroom, from policy-makers, education technology providers, NGOs to funders and the business community. “Let’s join forces to reimagine the future for our children,” he concluded.
