The challenge is open to all, and a European jury chaired by Lord Puttnam will select the ten most promising start-up ideas. They will then be invited to join the European Incubator for Innovation in Education where they will be given the opportunity of developing their project by having

• up to 20,000 EUR of initial seed funding and access to the Open Education Investment Club
• twelve weeks of intensive mentoring and coaching in successive European cities: Barcelona, Paris, London, Berlin, and Helsinki
• the support of Europe’s best experts in education, technology, and entrepreneurship.

The Incubator’s Partners are Aalto University, the cutting-edge university in Helsinki where science and art meet technology and business; Iversity Berlin, Germany’s most innovative online education specialists; and ESCP Europe, the leading European business school, recognized for its cross-cultural business education.

Applications can be submitted from all over the world, and applicants can be aspiring entrepreneurs or existing start-ups in the first stage of development. The proposal can address, for instance, one or more of the following

• learning contents
• devices, tools, and connectivity
• learning assessment and analytics
• school management and organisation
• learning communities.

This private initiative was designed by P.A.U. Education and Armat Group. Based in Barcelona, P.A.U. Education is a major contributor to innovative learning in Europe. It operates the Open Education Europa portal and is the co-organiser of the European Stakeholders MOOCs Summit. Armat Group is a Luxembourg-based privately owned investment company that helps finance the development of innovative companies in education.

The Open Education Challenge is under the patronage of Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.