Innovation Birmingham based Edtech business Smartella has won a global technology award organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations (UN) in South Korea.
Amir Shurrab, Smartella’s managing director, was nominated alongside 2000 others from 400 cities around the world for the ‘Young ICT Leaders Forum Challenge in the category of Building Smart Communities’, a competition to find the most innovative creation by a young ICT leader.
Previously known as OneAcademy, Smartella has become one of Birmingham’s most successful start-ups since its inception in 2018. Its mobile-optimised platform enables an all-in-one e-learning solution which can be used by businesses to provide virtual classrooms and course management systems.
Innovation Birmingham has aided Amir through various mentoring opportunities during his company’s journey to date. Company growth has also been enabled through funding from the Start-up Funding Club, a funding programme aimed at diversifying investment for promising British start-ups.
Judges were told to look for inventions which had generated a global impact in commercial and social sectors. Owing to the low-cost and easy accessibility of its service, Smartella’s agenda is in line with the UN’s sustainability goals for 2030. It has already catered for the needs of thousands of customers around the globe from school academies to global learners, and will help to transform the future of educational training in even the most vulnerable communities.
From the pool of winners, 30 were chosen by a panel of experts to attend a two-week course collaborating with key experts, financers and policy makers around transforming a digital future.
Smartella will use the award to support its future goals for expansion and collaboration on a global scale. It has also reconfigured its interface, distinguishing its modern user experience from current market offerings.
Amir Shurrab, Smartella’s managing director, said:
“We are honoured to have received this award in recognition of our dedicated effort towards reinventing today’s e-learning resources. “Smartella believes that global access to education can and should be realised. For too long, Edtech has remained stagnant thanks to outdated technologies and inconsistent platform design. Our platform has the potential to provide learning opportunities to thousands in a cost-efficient way.”
“Innovation Birmingham has been the perfect collaborative space for our company growth and development through its bringing together of like-minded entrepreneurs to develop exciting and creative change in a variety of sectors.”
Innovation Birmingham is the leading location for Birmingham’s digital and tech community; providing office suites, meeting and conference facilities and co-working opportunities for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors looking to develop or fund innovative digital start-ups with high growth potential.
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