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2025 Launch Event – Tools Competition

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2025 Tools Competition

Launch Event

Replay the Launch Event
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September 12, 2024 | 1-2 PM ET | Virtual

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The Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar funding opportunity for edtech tools tackling the most pressing issues for learners worldwide and catalyzing learning science research at scale. The 2025 Tools Competition launched on September 12, 2024 with a virtual event marking the official start of the annual cycle. 

Replay the Launch Event to hear from Tools Competition sponsors and leaders in the edtech space, learn about this cycle’s tracks that span K-12 to higher education, and discover what made previous winners successful.

Learn more about Phase I support resources for competitors here.

Join us for the 2023–24 Launch Event

The Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar competition for edtech tools tackling the most pressing issues for learners worldwide and catalyzing learning science research at scale. The 2025 Tools Competition will launch on September 12, 2024 with a virtual event marking the official start of the annual competition cycle. This year’s competition will award millions of dollars to the most innovative technologies supporting learners worldwide.

Register

Join us for the 2023–24 Launch Event

The Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar competition for edtech tools tackling the most pressing issues for learners worldwide and catalyzing learning science research at scale. The 2025 Tools Competition will launch on September 12, 2024 with a virtual event marking the official start of the annual competition cycle. This year’s competition will award millions of dollars to the most innovative technologies supporting learners worldwide.

Agenda

Keynote Address

Jim Shelton, President and Chief Investment & Impact Officer, Blue Meridian Partners

Competition Overview

Kumar Garg, Schmidt Futures

Introduction to Competition Tracks

Featured Competition Partners

Winner Highlights

Speakers

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Jim Shelton

President and Chief Investment & Impact Officer
Blue Meridian Partners
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Jim Shelton

President and Chief Investment & Impact Officer

Blue Meridian Partners

As President and CIIO of Blue Meridian Partners, Jim oversees the organization’s day-to-day operations and leads its efforts to continuously increase the impact, reach, and influence of our investees and investments. This includes our work expanding effective solutions nationwide as well as supporting regional and local strategies that capture the compounding benefits of aligning proven and promising solutions from cradle to and through career. Jim is also advancing Blue Meridian’s pursuit of new approaches to improving economic and social mobility and racial equity including exploring the roles of for-profits, policy and advocacy, and targeted universalism in deepening and ultimately broadening our impact.
Previously, Jim served as the Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education and was the founding Executive Director of My Brother’s Keeper. Subsequently, he was President and Chief Impact Officer at 2U, Inc. partnering with colleges and universities to increase access to and affordability of top degree programs. He later served as the founding President of Education for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Immediately prior to joining Blue Meridian, Jim founded Amandla Enterprises, an impact investment and advisory firm.
Jim is currently a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and Senior Social Impact Advisor to KKR and serves on the boards of several non-profit and for-profit impact-focused organizations.
Jim holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Morehouse College as well as master’s degrees in both business administration and education from Stanford University.
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Kumar Garg

President
Renaissance Philanthropy
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Kumar Garg

Kumar Garg

President

Renaissance Philanthropy

Kumar Garg is President of Partnerships at Schmidt Futures where he helps all major Schmidt Futures programs find successful leverage and also runs the Technology and Society portfolio. He previously shaped science and technology policy for the Obama Administration, serving in a variety of roles in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Garg led the Obama Administration’s efforts to bolster STEM education, and was involved in policy development, implementation, and communication for a wide range of science and technology issues. Prior to this, he worked on behalf of parents and children seeking educational reform as an education lawyer and advocate. He has a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Yale Law School.
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Heather Graham

Director, Learning Differences
Oak Foundation
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Heather Graham

Director, Learning Differences

Oak Foundation

Heather Graham is Program Director at the Oak Foundation for its Learning Differences Program. Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global, social and environmental concern. The Learning Differences Program is committed to building a world in which schools unlock the creativity and power of every young person and equip them to shape more just and equitable communities. The program partners with not-for-profit organizations that improve education for all students, particularly those who are furthest from opportunity. Previously, Heather served as a Principal with Education First and a Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In those roles she provided strategic and business planning, operations and governance support to education non-profits and developed coalitions with national, regional and global foundations, non-profits and government. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Heather served as a Vice President with Teach For America, a White House Fellow with the United States government and a Program Associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Heather spent a year in Chengdu, China as a Henry Luce Scholar and she began her career as a middle school teacher in the South Bronx with Teach For America. Heather earned her master's degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University and her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She currently lives in Durham, North Carolina.
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Dr. Lindsay Kuhn

Founder & CEO
Wingspans
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Dr. Lindsay Kuhn

Founder & CEO

Wingspans

Dr. Lindsay Kuhn holds a B.A. in English from Barnard College, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in engineering from Brown University. As a woman in engineering, she knows that representation matters and sees career exploration as an equity issue. She currently volunteers at the Rhode Island Adult Learning Center.
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Ursula Lavrencic

CEO
KOBI
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Ursula Lavrencic

CEO

KOBI

Ursula Lavrencic is a co-founder of KOBI, a groundbreaking app designed to enhance reading skills for children with dyslexia. With a Master's degree in Design and a notable career as an award-winning designer and artist, Ursula has dedicated her professional journey to advocating for better educational tools, giving countless public lectures to parents and educators. Her passion for supporting dyslexic learners stems from her own experiences, fueling her commitment to creating accessible, innovative solutions in educational technology.
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Michele Leardo

Program Officer
Walton Family Foundation
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Michele Leardo

Program Officer

Walton Family Foundation

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Caitlin Mills

Associate Professor
University of Minnesota
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Caitlin Mills

Associate Professor

University of Minnesota

Caitlin Mills has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, and her research focuses on constructs related to mind wandering and engagement during learning and in everyday life contexts. She aims to characterize when mind wandering occurs, how it influences learning, and ways to automatically detect it in real-time. Other research interests include the influence of mind wandering in ubiquitous tasks such as driving and how it relates to functional aspects of our lives such as affect, mental health, boredom, and creativity.
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Julia Quinn

Deputy Director of Philanthropy
Citadel
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Julia Quinn

Deputy Director of Philanthropy

Citadel

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Philipp Schmidt

VP Technology Innovation
Axim Collaborative
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Philipp Schmidt

VP Technology Innovation

Axim Collaborative

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Agustin Pardo Van Thienen

CEO
Wumbox
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Agustin Pardo Van Thienen

CEO

Wumbox

Additional speaker announcements forthcoming

More About the Tools Competition

In 2020, the Tools Competition first solicited individuals and organizations worldwide to fund ed tech tools and technologies to address pressing needs and opportunities in education and to build the field of learning engineering.

The competition has generated significant interest receiving over 4,600 proposals worldwide since its inception and funding over $17.5 million in prizes.

In the most recent 2024 cycle, following a multi-phase judging process, 50 winning teams composed of entrepreneurs, researchers, educators, and students from around the world were selected to receive over $8 million in funding and are anticipated to impact 24+ million learners worldwide by 2027. Learn about all winning teams here.​

The competition invites participation from individuals and teams from all backgrounds and phases of development—from early stage ideas to established products. Join us for this year’s competition and bring your impactful idea to life!

The 2025 Tools Competition is live! Register for an Info Session on Sept. 19.