The BTV Ignite 2018 Reverse Pitch competition has awarded five "Idea Grants" for proposed digital solutions to help deliver education. Each selected proposal receives $2,000 to help take their idea forward as a "proof of concept". In October, the two best solution demonstrations will be eligible for final grants of up to $10,000 each.

The Idea Grant proposals were judged on the basis of their innovation, value for delivering education, use of high bandwidth internet, and potential for real world implementation.

The awarded ideas were:

"Code Shepherd" (submitted by Adam Burnett): A teaching platform to bring subject matter experts, teachers and students together in a collaborative code editor with a live video chat. Schools will no longer have to limit the classes they offer based on staff expertise.
"OpenWords" (submitted by Marc Bogonovich): A sustainable, open source model for deploying affordable language learning technology in rural areas.
"Greenlight" (submitted by Scott Thibault): A connected collaboration platform focused on delivering the most natural life-like interface possible for communication at a distance. The key is an always on, always ready device that lowers the barrier to communication and fosters those spontaneous conversations that typically don’t occur when people are not physically collocated.
"FlashcARds" (submitted by Jake Blend): Augmented Reality flashcards for students and educators, which when viewed through the application, will display relevant information, animations, solutions, wayfinding and more.
"Learning Portals" (submitted by Jake Blend): Portals floating in AR/VR space that provide access to remote classrooms, locations, and even the past using 360 cameras and high speed internet. Doorways to new experiences will always be within reach, and provide a new pathway to education delivery.

Referring to the Reverse Pitch May "launch event" which included inspirational presentations from educators and technologists, grant winner Jake Blend said:

"As I watched the Reverse Pitch presentations, I was drawn into the creative aspect of developing solutions for the challenges faced by these leaders in technology and education. By combining the perpetual innovation of Generator's new Mixed Reality Lab with the incredible speeds of Burlington Telecom's gigabit infrastructure, we have the opportunity to explore emerging methods of learning in am ideal testing environment. Our team is looking forward to working with the support of BTV ignite create practical demonstrations of these tools."

We congratulate these winning teams and thank all the applicants for their great proposals!