Case Study: Australian edtech industry and borderless education

Background

● Austrade AIE2025 process

● Deloitte report - Australian

International Education 2025

● International Education as we know it

will reach 960,000 learners in 2025,

about 3.8% annual growth.

● Which is great but it’s only 0.1% of the

1 billion learners there is forecast to be

globally by 2025.

● So we added a few zeros and set an

aim for Australia to reach 10% - 100mil

learners globally.

What is borderless education?

Borderless education = offshore education delivery.

International education actually delivered internationally, not

international students coming to Australia.

Available to all, regardless of geographical location.

It’s online learning, blended learning, in app learning, game based

learning….anything that scales beyond borders and isn’t refined

to a classroom.

We Formed EduGrowth

● A diverse group of individuals and organisations got together post

the AIE2025 process and formed “EduGrowth”

● Not for profit entity

● We raised some funding and built a network of founding partners

We set the operational goals

We realised that for Australia to meet its goal of 100mil learners, the

most important component is technology and the key industry segment

will be education technology startups, know in the industry as “edtech”

companies.

Goals:

1. Grow the size and effectiveness of the Australian edtech industry

2. Create a collaborative network of individuals and institutions

invested in Australia’s edtech future.

3. Advocate for and promote the Australian edtech industry globally

4. Drive the focus on the international borderless education industry

Stakeholders

Teachers and Academics

Vocational Colleges

Universities

Investors

Government

EdTech Startups

International Partners

K-12 Schools

What is EdTech? Education + Technology = EDTECH

- Software

- Hardware

- Online or Blended Learning

- Apps

- Games

- Marketplaces

NOT just high tech software. Any company that uses technology at the

CORE of its business.

They are borderless or they “support” borderless education delivery

Edtech Success Stories

Smart Sparrow is a global leader in adaptive and personalized

learning technology with offices in San Francisco and Sydney. It

was founded by Dr. Dror Ben-Naim, who led a research group

in the field of Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Educational Data

Mining at the University of New South Wales, resulting in the

development of the Adaptive eLearning Platform.

www.smartsparrow.com

3P Learning is one of Australia’s largest edtech success stories.

The NSW based company has grown from a small startup to an

ASX listed company, working with schools around the world.

- $136mil market cap

- > 300 employees

- $49million in Revenue in 2016 Fin year

www.3plearning.com

We built a map of the edtech industry

Riley Batchelor

CEO EduGrowth

- Startup founder and executive

- Local Founder General Assembly Australia

- Co-founder Tech Sydney - Board member

Fishburners

We built a team

Ben Cochrane Program Manager EduGrowth

- Senior Product Manager,

Red Balloon - Sales Manager, General

Assembly Australia

Genevieve Murphy

Network Manager EduGrowth

- Marketing and Membership Manager, Communications Council

Patrick Brothers

EduGrowth Chair CEO Navitas Ventures CDO Navitas

The EduGrowth Board

Beverley Oliver

EduGrowth Vice Chair DVC Education, Deakin University

Martin Beeche

EduGrowth Board Member CEO Prosper Education

Tony Brennan

EduGrowth Board Member CEO Talisman Health

Mark Rohald Director and Founder of

Quartet Ventures

Selected Advisors and Mentors

Beverly Oliver DVC Education

Deakin University

Jane Long SDVC

La Trobe University

Darrell Evans Vice Provost

Monash University

Warwick Freeland

Chief Strategy Officer at IDP Education

Craig Simon General Manager, 3P

Learning

Terry Hillsberg Partner, Innohub

Duncan Anderson

Founder and Director at Edrolo

We developed a plan and rolled it out

To create and bring together the network

1. Online platform

2. Events- talks, workshops, hackathons

and conferences

3. Member collaboration initiatives

To grow the edtech industry

1. Full Time Accelerator

2. “Launch” Program

3. “Scale” Program

4. “Pilot” Program

5. Hubs and nodes

To drive the international Focus

1. International partnerships

2. Missions - ASU GSV

3. Capability and insights

workshops.

The Early Results

We have 5 amazing accelerator companies all growing international

markets:

- Craftsposure - Life is Yellow

- Revision Village - Become

- Life is Yellow

We have had over 2000 people register for and attend our events

Early registrations are showing that we will have over 1000 people take

part in our “launch” program

Our accelerator teams have been selected to pitch at ASU-GSV in the US.

One of the biggest edtech conferences in the world

Why should you care?

The Education industry has changed. It won’t change tomorrow or next

year. It’s already begun. It’s now a global game and competition is

global.

Instead of holding onto your patch, go out and explore new ones

Education is the last major sector to be disrupted. Consumer wants and

needs are changing (especially the millennial generation). I do not see

my 6 year old son ever setting foot in a traditional tertiary campus.

Regulation will follow consumer behaviour. Look at Uber and Airbnb, they

achieved massive scale when regulators could no longer ignore the

consumer uptake and had to change the laws.

Education institutions can use technology to reach new markets locally &

internationally and do it efficiently. The economic benefits are far and

wide.

How can you get involved?

Attend our Brisbane events

Join our online platform...its free

Take the launch program to learn more about edtech

Become a member!

Help spread the word.