Announcing Amazon Alexa India EdTech Skills Challenge 2020 finalists and competition date

*Updated July 21, 2020 with winner information.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), together with EdTechReview, announced a voice technology in education contest at the EdTechReview 2020 conference. The competition, open to education technology (EdTech) companies in India, aims to build skills that address education challenges and positively impact students, faculty, administrators, and other educational stakeholders using Amazon Alexa in education.

We received over 100 applications and selected five as finalists to compete for the title of “Best Amazon Alexa EdTech Skill 2020, India.” Applicants submitted a range of creative and potentially impactful ideas for skills that focused on challenges like how to improve teaching practices, learning throughout life, continuing professional development, and administration and assessment processes.

Finalists will develop their proposed Alexa skills, receiving guidance and support from the AWS team as they build. They will present their Alexa skills in front of a jury in a virtual session on 17 July 2020. The winner will receive $50,000 in AWS Promotional Credit, and the four runners-up will each receive $10,000 in AWS Promotional Credit.

Introducing the finalists

• Chrysalis: Chrysalis is a results-based learning company from Gurugram, Haryana that creates measurable changes in individual competencies and organizational capability through learning and development. English reading levels are low in India, even in private schools, and traditional computer language labs are not affordable for all schools. To address this, Chrysalis developed Alexa Mobile Labs, an alternate for computer-enabled English language labs. Students will be able to do reading tests to assess their English skills, and data insights will be sent to the teacher with remedial solutions.
• Code Shastra: Code Shastra is a Gurugram-based company that develops next-generation app solutions for enterprise, mobile, web, and cloud. It is the creator of Chalexa, a chatbot for students. Chalexa interacts with the students in a peer style, talking about sports, movies, current happenings, interests, academics, and more. It tracks the child’s social, mental, and physical health over time, providing guidance, mentorship, and alerting parents about any sudden changes. Chalexa can be a virtual friend for students.
• Go Sharp Technologies and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.: Known as Playablo for Schools, this Bangalore-based EdTech believes in making learning fun and enjoyable for the modern learner. Playablo has ready-made APIs to integrate with Alexa skills to provide teachers with voice-enabled homework capabilities, assignment progress checking, and more. Combined with the management app, Alexa can provide school management with real-time, voice-enabled reports for questions like, “Alexa, how is the student performing in grade five English?” or “Alexa, how many assignments are given by the teacher in mathematics in the last four weeks?”
• Mindcom Technologies Pvt. Ltd.: Mindcom’s proposed skill is an online assessment system that delivers questions aloud with voice technology. Students who are visually impaired would be able to answer questions out loud, and the system accepts it. If the student asks for hints from the system using voice, the system delivers the tip vocally. For descriptive answers, Alexa can take the description and convert it into text.
• Wunderkind Infotech: Wunderkind Infotech is the promoter and founder of projectsforschool.com, based in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The company has a passion for activity-based, experiential, and simplified methods of learning. It aspires to make learning fun for students. Wunderkind Infotech intends to develop an Alexa skill for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEAM), allowing students to make simple models using readily available materials at home. It also aims to develop a STEAM knowledge assessment skill to help students in choosing relevant STEAM careers.

The winner was: Abhay Dubey from Code Shastra. Learn more about the winning skill and check out video demos. 

The judges

The panel of judges includes: Namita Dalmia, director of investments, Omidyar Network; Sandeep Aneja, founder and managing partner, Kaizen Private Equity; Srikant Prabhu, head of portfolio and investment, Social Alpha; Sunil PP, head for education and nonprofit, Amazon Internet Services; and Vincent Quah, regional head for education, Asia Pacific and Japan, worldwide public sector, AWS.

If you are interested in watching the live presentation on 17 July, visit the competition website for details.

Learn more about Alexa for education and read about other Alexa EdTech skills competitions.