Triangle Startup Weekend is looking for new ideas to boost innovation – and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Startup events is offering quite a hook to stir up interest.
“As an added bonus, team projects from this weekend may be eligible for up to $500,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation per their Literary Courseware Challenge,” event organizer Mital Patel tells WRALTechWire.
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This is the first education themed event. The Kauffman Foundation backs the Startup Weekend program.
“We expect to have 100 attendees working to spur innovation in education, including educators from our local public schools, from Teach for America and even the education director for the NC Symphony,” Patel says. “We’ll pair them with entrepreneurs and coders to help them build the next big things in EdTech.”
The HUB on West Hillsborough Street in Raleigh is the site for this year’s event.
Over a 54-hour period beginning Friday night, people who sign up with form teams to develop education-related projects. Their work will be judged Sunday.
Interest is growing, too. The event is nearing capacity, Patel notes.
Startup Weekend’s pitch to people: They want you.
“You! … and educators, programmers, designers, and business people looking to make an impact in the Education, EdTech, and learning space,” the group says. “Registration is open to all skillsets ,backgrounds, and ages.
“We can all agree we need to work to innovate and reform education. In many ways, our future depends on it. [Triangle Startup Weekend] approaches this with the simple formula of getting educators, entrepreneurs, and the overall community in the same room and focusing on taking action.”
Registration is required.
