Nordic Friends: Hey EdTech Denmark!

Hey, Morten Amstrup, leading EdTech Denmark, what are you up to?

EdTech Denmark was officially launched in summer 2017 and is initiated and led by Morten Amstrup, who has been working at several edtechs and also with a background as a lecturer at Copenhagen Business School, Shanghai Finance University and Foreign Trade University. A real expert in growth and export! EdTech Denmark is part of our Nordic Edtech Alliance, where we work together to strengthen Nordic Edtech internationally. We want to get to know our Nordic friends so we sent him a couple of questions on trends, hurdles and opportunities in Denmark and the Nordics.

So, back to the question, what are you up to?

We aim to do three things mainly; ”Advocating education and technology”,”sharing knowledge & research”, and ”facilitating collaboration and innovation” – or in short we want better education through the use of technology. We have today approximately 70 EdTech companies under our umbrella here in Denmark.

Lenghty sales funnels is biggest hurdle

Denmark has the highest spend on education among the OECD countries but does not have the best educational results. Possibilities and trends in Denmark are very similar to the other Nordic countries. The biggest hurdle for new EdTechs is lengthy sales funnels. An average of 18 months makes it hard for new startups with limited runway.

Trend that students start edtech companies

Most new EdTechs today are started by students/past-students. 10 years ago it was mainly teachers who stated new EdTech companies. It is unclear as to why this shift has occurred, but it may be because of the development of technology, but it could also be because students are more actively taking control over their education today.

Nordic Edtech Alliance has an important role in creating opportunities for Nordic Edtech

We are all up ”against” the giant ecosystems of Silicon Valley etc., so only united do we stand a chance. But the chance is very real. With a long history of outstanding pedagogy, teaching, and with the Scandinavian openness to innovation etc. the possibility of ’planting the EdTech flag’ in the Nordics is good.

In order to successfully do this, we need to attract Nordic and International investors to invest in Nordic Edtech companies and to build bridges to international markets for Nordic Edtech companies and suppliers.