AT&T Opens Applications for Second Ed Tech Accelerator

Multinational telecommunications conglomerate AT&T has opened up applications for its second annual ed tech accelerator. The program is designed for startups offering mobile technology, applications and other services that support students’ educational and career success.

The 2017 AT&T Aspire Accelerator is a six-month program that is open to for-profit and nonprofit organizations, part of the company’s national initiative to drive innovation in education. AT&T will provide a $100,000 financial investment, with an additional $25,000 to cover program costs. Throughout the program, companies will gain access to AT&T’s expert services and mentorship. AT&T said the accelerator supports innovations “that use technology to help students succeed, strengthen schools and communities, or prepare learners for employment,” according to the program’s website.

“AT&T has been in the education space for over a hundred years and they’ve been connecting schools specifically for that long,” said Sandro Olivieri, an entrepreneur in residence at the accelerator, in a video statement. “By investing in these startups we are able to focus on impact.”

“We believe that education is the most important investment we can make and tech is our business,” said Nicole Anderson, assistant vice president of school innovation for AT&T, in a video statement. “When you marry up education with technology, you can really start to make amazing change.”

The accelerator is customized and tailored to each organization. Additionally, the program allows participants to stay where they are based.

Last year’s class included companies like Bitsbox and Cogent, which offer coding projects and activities that get students thinking like computer engineers and scientists. CommonLit, a digital platform that offers free curriculum tools, and TalkingPoints, a multilingual communications platform for parents, teachers and students, were also part of last year’s cohort. Couragion, an app that exposes students to STEM careers, and The Graide Network, a platform that connects teachers with virtual teaching assistants on demand, won as well.

To hear from some of these companies, watch video coverage of last year’s accelerator below. Further information on how to apply is available on the AT&T site.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  •  laptop on a clean desk with digital padlock icon on the screen

    Data Privacy a Top Concern as Orgs Scale Up AI Agents

    As organizations race to integrate AI agents into their cloud operations and workflows, they face a crucial reality: while enthusiasm is high, major adoption barriers remain, according to a new Cloudera report. Chief among them is the challenge of safeguarding sensitive data.

  • chart with ascending bars and two silhouetted figures observing it, set against a light background with blue and purple tones

    Report: Enterprises Are Embracing Agentic AI

    According to a new report from SnapLogic, 50% of enterprises are already deploying AI agents, and another 32% plan to do so within the next 12 months..

  • stacks of glowing digital documents with circuit patterns and data streams

    Mistral AI Intros Advanced AI-Powered OCR

    French AI startup Mistral AI has announced Mistral OCR, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) API designed to convert printed and scanned documents into digital files with "unprecedented accuracy."

  • student using a tablet with math symbols dissolving into a glowing AI

    Survey: Students Say AI Use Can Reduce Math Anxiety

    In a recent survey, 56% of high school students said that the use of artificial intelligence can go a long way toward reducing math anxiety.