EnlightED’s Most Global Edition: 147 global thinkers connected from 10 countries will discuss the gaps in education

The educational gaps of innovation, competencies and digital will be the focus of the 4th edition of enlightED, which returns in hybrid format on 19, 20 and 21 October. More than 11,000 people from 20 countries have registered for the most global edition of enlightED, with 147 top-level speakers connecting with the event from 10 countries.

Sponsored by Fundación Telefónica, IE University and South Summit, the event has brought together 470,000 unique spectators from 46 countries and 300 international speakers since its creation in 2018, establishing itself as a global benchmark in the field of educational innovation. This year’s edition, will include 47 round tables and talks, in addition to 25 participatory workshops, which can be followed in Spanish, Portuguese and English, with international experts participating from Madrid, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, London, Montevideo, Mexico City, Quito, Santiago de Chile, Bogota or San Francisco.

The new features of the program were presented today at a press conference by the heads of the three organizing institutions. During her speech, Carmen Morenés, CEO of Fundación Telefónica, expressed the importance and urgent need to bridge the digital divide through the development of digital skills at all stages of education: “among teachers, to accelerate teaching and learning, among young people to improve their employability, and above all to ensure that technology becomes a force for positive change that allows us to achieve meaningful social relationships”.

For her part, María Benjumea, founder of South Summit, took advantage of the presentation to make a wake-up call: “we must think together how to take advantage of innovation to improve teaching and learning processes. We are living through in an essential moment to introduce technology and the solutions provided by startups to problems that today require urgent measures”.

Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, President of IE University, said, “In the fourth continuous edition of Enlighted, one of the topics of analysis is the skills gap, evidenced by the mismatch between the supply of unfilled jobs and the increase in unemployment.”

“Three factors contributing to this gap are the digitization of the economy, the automation of many tasks, and the rise of telecommuting and remote activity. Several panels during the conference will offer international best practices and creative solutions to overcome this challenge.”
Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, President of IE University

Hybrid program with top experts

With a program running over the course of three days and combining lectures and workshops with round tables and virtual discussions, enlightED will bring together 147 world leading experts including Vinton Cerf, considered the father of the internet; Daniel Goleman, psychologist, journalist and author of the best-seller Emotional Intelligence; Howard Gardner, psychologist, researcher and professor at Harvard University, known in the scientific field for his theory of multiple intelligences; Kiran Bir Sethi, founder of Design for Change and The Riverside School in India and finalist of the Global Teacher Prize 2019; Michelle Weise, author of Long Life Learning and a member of the Thinkers50 list of 2021; tennis player Rafael Nadal; José María Álvarez-Pallete, president of Telefónica; Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org; lli-Pekka Heinonen, former Minister of Education of Finland and current Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organization; Wendy Kopp, founder of Tech for All; or Linda Liukas, founder of Rails Girls, a global movement of programming workshops for girls, among others.

They will be joined by representatives of the world's leading educational institutions such as María Brown, Minister of Education of Ecuador; Milton Ribeiro, Minister of Education of Brazil; and Pilar Alegría, Minister of Education of Spain; accompanied by the presidents of the promoting organizations; Santiago Iñiguez, President of IE University; and María Benjumea, founder and CEO of South Summit.

They will reflect on three of the major gaps that have accelerated during the COVID19 pandemic: the challenge of narrowing the innovation gap to transform education systems; the challenge of addressing the skills gap in relation to new social needs; and thirdly, how to address the digital skills gap to reconnect with young people and promote positive change.

The enlightED Awards 2021 recognize entrepreneurship and educational innovation

This year’s 4th edition has seen the enlightED Awards continue to grow and strengthen their commitment to innovation and educational entrepreneurship, establishing itself as one of the most important educational innovation awards in the world. The awards give participants the opportunity to share, with the rest of the educational community, the most innovative projects in education and digital innovation as a response to the situation caused by Covid19.

The finalists have already been announced from among more than 700 entries from over 15 different countries and as an innovation, this year, in addition to the categories of best startups in education, innovation and edTech, there are also awards for best practices in educational innovation in corporate training, higher education and primary and secondary education.

The winners, selected by an evaluation committee made up of professionals with experience in the fields and themes of each of the four categories, will be announced on 21 October, during the last day of enlightED Hybrid Edition 2021.