Ed Tech Developers Wooed to Incubator Program
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 09/20/10
Developers with promising technology ideas that cater to the education market may have a chance at fame through an incubator program hosted by the Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association. SIIA has put out a call for applications to its Innovation Incubator Program. Those who make the cut will have the chance to present their ideas at an upcoming SIIA event in New York City. The deadline to apply is September 27, 2010.
The purpose of the program is to match up together people with products or services in development (those past the conceptual stage) with potential investors, buyers, or partners. The program is open to developers from academic and non-profit institutions, pre-revenue and early-stage companies, and long-standing companies with newly developed technologies.
The organization said selection criteria include meeting a market need within education, having qualities that make the product "new and innovative," and aligning with themes such as anytime/anywhere access or enterprise support. SIIA added that it has particular interest in attracting applications that "leverage the transition to the cloud, mobile devices or open education resources, and exemplify new business models and channels."
Finalists will do presentations at the SIIA Ed Tech Business Forum in New York, Nov. 29-30. So they're being asked to provide slideshow presentations that articulate the idea, the target market, and the value proposition of the innovation; a demo or prototype; and a Web site or PDF that will help judges understand their idea.
SIIA is a trade association for the software and digital content industries. The education division has 150 member companies.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.