UK team onebillion - the only European finalist in Elon Musk's $15million XPRIZE

London-based non-profit onebillion has been announced as one of the 5 finalists in the Global Learning XPRIZE, funded by Elon Musk. XPRIZE is the world leader in designing competitions to find innovative solutions to solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges.

The Global Learning XPRIZE (GLEXP) challenges teams across the globe to develop scalable, open source software that will teach children in developing countries to read and write.

The final 5 teams have been announced during this year’s UN General Assembly Week; each awarded a $1 million milestone prize and taken forward to the trial phase. Their learning solutions will be assessed in rigorous field-trial, monitored by XPRIZE partners UNESCO and the UN World Food Programme. 4,000 out of school children in Tanzania will be given a Pixel C tablet, donated by Google, loaded with one of the solutions.

The team that generates the best international standardised test scores, proving their solution is the most effective for children’s learning, will be awarded the Grand Prize of $10 million. With this prize money and the continued support of the XPRIZE Foundation, the winner will have the opportunity to scale their software to ensure that children all around the world will benefit.

The only finalist from Europe, onebillion has over 14 years of experience in developing educational software that succeeds in teaching children, wherever they are in the world. Independent studies in the UK and Malawi proved children who used onebillion maths software showed significant learning gains, after just 6-8 weeks of 30-minute sessions.

Their numeracy software already has over 100,000 users worldwide, and their learning initiative Unlocking Talent has been institutionalised in all 5,400 schools in Malawi by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST).

Andrew Ashe, CEO of onebillion says his team are committed to the XPRIZE vision.

“Let’s work together to get this generation of the world’s children reading.”

onebillion’s ambition is to bring quality literacy and numeracy education to one billion children around the world. The fundamental skills of reading, writing and arithmetic are vital for children to reach their full potential, become self-confident and escape poverty.