Start-ups take the global education community by storm at Bett Futures
Bett, the leading global education event, took the international community by storm when it hosted its 33rd show at ExCeL London last month. Part of the event’s appeal is the way it can be used as a platform for new and emerging companies to launch themselves into the global education marketplace.
Bett Futures, a platform designed to nurture emerging edtech start-up companies, returned to the show following a successful launch in 2015 and impressive growth in 2016. This lively part of the show floor hosted more than 100 innovative start-ups this year, all looking to share their ideas, insights and solutions with educators from across the world.
This year, the aim of Bett Futures was to showcase budding businesses that promise to be game changers in education; the initiative was run in association with the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) and the Times Educational Supplement (TES), along with other partners. Celebrating brave thinking, innovative pedagogy, new products and education game changers, Bett Futures 2017 presented a one-of-a-kind opportunity for emerging learning solutions to hit the ground running by inspiring attendees with practical ideas on how to improve their own educational practice.
Now>press>play, the immersive audio resource that transports children to the world of their topic through story and sound, exhibited in the Bett Futures area. Tilly Smith said: “Bett Futures gave us a stepping stone into Bett, and it’s got a lovely community feel to it. People are able to talk to and guide each other, and being on an open floor gives a much freer atmosphere than being in a sectioned-off stand – we had space to run children through our educational experiences.
“Bett Futures was certainly our biggest lead generator and plays a very important role in our future planning – and there was a great vibe there too. We even made our very first sale at the event this year! Now, we feel like we’re finding our feet in this crowded marketplace.”
The children’s handwriting sharing platform, Pobble, was also part of this year’s Bett Futures community for the second time. CEO of Pobble, Jon Smith, said: “Bett Futures offers a great return on investment in the sense that we could effectively drive awareness of our brand and, of course, sales. The return we got far exceeded our investment last year, and we’re sure it will do so again this year. Bett Futures is a great platform to meet your peers and network, enabling you to engage with the global education community.”
Bett Futures will be returning at next year’s show, which will run from 24-27 January 2018. To register as an exhibitor, visit: hwww.bettshow.com/Content/Register-for-Bett-2018.
