Lord David Puttnam, the multi award-winning film producer, is to present the first ever EdWards at the London Festival of Learning (June 22–30).
The Festival is a week-long event bringing together three prestigious conferences of educationalists and scientists involved in the development of education technology in the UK and overseas. Held at UCL Institute of Education in London, it will involve a three-day showcase hosted by the pioneering EDUCATE programme, highlighting its work supporting start-ups, SMEs, and entrepreneurs working to develop the best evidence-based edtech.
The EdWards ceremony, which will be co-compered by Lord Jim Knight, the former schools minister, will form the central event of the EDUCATE Showcase and Festival on June 27.
Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design at the UCL Knowledge Lab, and the Director of EDUCATE, said: “The Festival represents a unique opportunity to bring together some of the brightest and most influential brains in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to present their work, to network and share ideas. This collaboration and cooperation is absolutely crucial to the future success of technology development.
“It is totally appropriate, therefore, to include EDUCATE’s inaugural EdWards ceremony as part of the proceedings, in recognition of the successful completion of the programme by our cohorts – the innovators with whom we have worked over the past year.”
Lord Puttnam said: “The significant impact of artificial intelligence and technology is already evident in education and in industry more widely. The EdWards are a fitting celebration of the some of the best entrepreneurship in edtech currently taking place in the UK, and I am delighted to play a part in the recognition of such innovation.”
The EDUCATE Showcase will include a practitioner track, during which school teachers will have a chance to find out about, and discuss, the latest innovations in edtech, and to input ideas into its future development. EDUCATE cohort members will be present throughout the Showcase to demonstrate the products and services they have developed as part of the programme.
The London Festival of Learning comprises the annual conferences of ICLS, L@S and AIED, bringing together more than 1,200 academics and researchers from around the world.
Among the keynote speakers at the event will be: Gever Tulley, Founder of Brightworks ​and Tinkering School; Tom Mitchell, founder of the world’s first Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University; Nichole Pinkard, founder of Digital Youth Network and the social learning platform L3; and Professor Simon Buckingham-Schum, director of the Connected Intelligence Centre at Australia’s University of Technology in Sydney.
More than 500 research publications from around the world will also be presented at the Festival.
The full programme for each conference, and the Festival overall, can be found at: https://www.londonfestivallearning.com.