China and the US Expecting Exchange on Educational Technology in the Coming ASU-GSV Summit

When talking about the global market, how can you not include China? After its debut last year, The EdStars delegation, consisting of 17 education and technology CEOs, was invited by the Summit again. During the three-day ASU+GSV Summit, representatives from China and the US will brainstorm on education philosophy, cutting-edge technology, and investment models, which will undoubtedly inspire new ideas.

With the implementation of innovation-driven strategy and educational reform in recent years, China has gradually found its bearings in the global competition in the field of educational technology. According to the 2016 Edtech Trends report released by educational technology organization Edtech Europe, though North America is still the world's leading educational technology innovator, the Asia-Pacific region boasts the fastest growth with an annual rate of 20%, and is expected to make up 54% of the global educational technology market by 2020. Edtech Europe considered Asia a region with great growth potential that cannot be ignored, with China most likely to become the pioneer in novel education technology and the focus of the future.

Not long after, this view was proved to be true. A quarterly report about global venture investment trends from KPMG showed that in the first quarter of 2017, China boasted a total investment of 3.6 billion US dollars, ranking top in the world, and is expected to generate more business activity in the education industry. Home to one fifth of the global population, China is seeing tremendous changes in the educational technology field. After "the first close encounter" of last year, an increasing number of American education companies and investors have begun to pay close attention to the prosperous education market on the other side of the globe.

The EdStars delegation was invited to the ASU-GSV Summit for the first time last year, allowing many American enterprises got to know the real Chinese education market, start thinking about how to enter the Chinese market and find Chinese business partners. This year, the theme "Chinese and American education" will be discussed on a deeper level. At this Summit, Liu Yachao, co-founder of TAL Education, will talk to Rick Levin, former president of Yale and CEO of Coursera about how Chinese education development should be planned. Tennis legend Agassi and Alex Zhang, Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni and General Manager of TAL Education's Jiazhangbang, will have an in-depth discussion on what they experienced and learned in the education sector after trying their hands at different fields. John Wu, General Manager of the Investment Business Department of TAL Education, and Michael Moe, co-founder of GSV, will talk about capital trends and share their feelings about education, or maybe even chances to try something new together. In addition, VIPKID and 51Talk will launch their first "strategic partnership" to display China's achievements in online English education to the world. Blue Elephant Capital and other education industry capital funds will be seeking cooperation with foreign partners. The CEOs of EEO, 17Zuoye, Kaomanfen, and FaceThink will also be present at the Summit.

Admittedly, the CEOs attending the Summit only constitute a small part of the big EdStars family. As part of the "Hupan University" education circle in China, EdStars attracts a wide range of entrepreneurial and innovative elites committed to education by offering them incubation, training and a platform for cooperation. There have been five cohorts of EdStars so far, with 180 members in total. These shining stars are the future of Chinese education. Statistics show that among the education projects selected in the first four cohorts, 40% have completed Series B funding rounds or beyond, more than six projects are valued at over 500 million US dollars, 12 projects have completed Series C funding rounds or beyond, and 20 projects have over five million users.

How will the EdStars delegation impress the world with its unique Chinese style in the largest and most attended technology summit? What surprise will it bring us when on the same stage with its US counterparts?  Let's wait and see!

SOURCE TAL Education Group