$50,000 to $300,000 Edtech Tools Competition

The Learning Agency runs this annual competition, a programme of Renaissance Philanthropy, to fund new education technology, from apps, software and algorithms to open datasets, that improves learning and generates data researchers can study. The 2027 cycle, its seventh, will award more than $4.5 million across four tracks: Strengthening Teaching, Reimagining Assessment, Navigating Postsecondary Learning and Work, and Building Better Datasets. Individuals aged 18 and over, teams, companies, nonprofits and universities can all enter, and the first step is a short online abstract.

What you get:

• Teaching, Assessment and Postsecondary tracks: $50,000 Catalyst prizes for early-stage ideas and tools, with no minimum number of users
• $150,000 Growth prizes for tools that already have active users
• $300,000 Transform prizes for established platforms with at least 10,000 users
• Building Better Datasets track: $100,000 for each winning dataset
• Payment in two halves: 50% once winners are named, and 50% after a virtual Product Review Day in fall 2027 if you have made substantial progress on your plan
• Full ownership of your tool and its intellectual property; the organisers take no equity
• Free support while you compete, including info sessions, webinars, office hours, written guidance and a database of researchers you can partner with
• Introductions to further funding, visibility opportunities and in-kind resources such as software credits, which the organisers share with competitors

What you'll do:

• Choose a track and a prize level (the eligibility quiz on the site suggests both), then submit a short online abstract in English by October 13, 2026
• The abstract covers your tool's title, the problem it solves and who it serves, how it will scale, the learning data it will generate for research, and your team's qualifications; dataset entries describe the dataset instead. Citations are not needed and external links are not considered
• If invited on November 24, 2026, write a detailed proposal with a budget and execution plan, due January 21, 2027
• If named a finalist in March 2027, pitch live to a panel of judges online in April 2027
• If you win, build to your plan, present your progress at Product Review Day in fall 2027, and take part in a 12-month impact study with surveys, calls and a final report

Key dates:

• September 15, 2026: online info session, 12:00 to 1:00 pm US Eastern
• October 13, 2026, 11:59 pm ET: Phase I abstracts due
• November 24, 2026: selected entrants invited to Phase II
• January 21, 2027, 11:59 pm ET: detailed proposals due
• March 18, 2027: finalists selected
• April 2027: virtual pitches to a panel of judges
• Late April to early May 2027: winners notified, with a public announcement in June 2027
• Fall 2027: Product Review Day

More information:

• The four tracks: Strengthening Teaching (tools that make K-12 teaching more effective and more sustainable), Reimagining Assessment (K-12 assessment that is more continuous, actionable and inclusive), Navigating Postsecondary Learning and Work (US only, tools that help learners move between education and work) and Building Better Datasets (open education datasets, with some prizes prioritising student attention and engagement)
• Every entrant must explain how the tool or dataset will create public goods such as datasets, benchmarks or evaluation frameworks, and how it supports learning engineering research
• Reviewers judge novelty, potential impact, attention to equity, demand from learners and educators, support for learning engineering, and ability to scale
• Since 2020 the competition has awarded more than $24 million to 171 winning teams from more than 7,100 proposals
• Full terms are in the Official Rules at tools-competition.org/27-official-rules, and common questions are answered in the FAQ

• Individuals must be at least 18 years old; no upper age limit is stated
• Open to individuals, teams, companies, nonprofits, universities and researchers
• Strengthening Teaching, Reimagining Assessment and Building Better Datasets are open to entrants worldwide
• Navigating Postsecondary Learning and Work is only for entrants based in the United States who serve US learners
• Not open to anyone located in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, or the Crimea, Donetsk (DNR) or Luhansk (LNR) regions of Ukraine, or listed on a US government restricted party list
• You must be able to legally receive US dollar payments from the United States into a bank account; for a team, the team or one member must hold the account
• Entities must be validly existing and in good standing where they are registered
• Teams must name every member and one Team Lead, who receives the prize on the team's behalf
• All submissions must be in English
• Reimagining Assessment entrants must commit to making the tool available to users at no more than cost
• Growth entries need active users at submission; Transform entries need at least 10,000 users
• Employees, directors and officers of the organisers and financial supporters, and their immediate families and households, cannot enter
• Non-US winners may have tax withheld from the prize