The Software & Information Industry Association, or SIIA, has announced the winners of its annual Innovation Incubator Awards for new creative and potentially successful software and services in education.
The winners are ...
Most Innovative Education Product or Service:
Mobl21, by Emantras Inc.
Runner-up:
Livemocha Active English, by Livemocha
Most Likely to Succeed in the Education Market:
SkillsTutor Mobile, by Impact Education
Runner-up:
Livemocha Active English, by Livemocha
Mobl21 is an online platform that allows teachers to post study guides, manage groups, and publish content to different social media. SkillsTutor Mobile is an online tutorial service that covers basic academic subjects, including math up to Algebra 2, by providing access to lessons on smartphones and other mobile devices. And Livemocha Active English, as you might have guessed, is an online service that offers English lessons for non-native speakers.
I find it interesting—though not completely surprising—that a platform service would win the “most innovative” award, while an individual software program would garner most-likely-to-succeed honors. The platform still requires an educator to drive the learning. The application only requires a student with a zest for learning and a smartphone.
If you’re an entrepreneur, would you rather be the most innovative, most likely to succeed, or the runner-up in both—a potent combination of freshness (read: freshne$$) and practicality?