#SIT2021 Finalist Magrid: Doing Well By Doing Good

Magrid, an incubator-based start-up of the University of Luxembourg and led by Tahereh Pazouki, is on the fast track: after winning the WSA Global Championship Award in the Learning and Education category a few months ago, it is now one of the 15 finalists of the EIB Institute’s Social Innovation Tournament.

Image Credits: Magrid

40% of the world’s population does not have access to education in a language they understand, according to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report. A problem that Magrid, a language-free educational program in the field of mathematics, decided to address. “Our research originally addressed the issue of students’ low performance in mathematical abilities. The corresponding hypothesis: language barriers! In Luxembourg, there is an enormous number of students with different language backgrounds. Thus, our approach: a language-free solution with visual instructions replacing verbal ones”, explains Tahereh Pazouki, founder of Magrid.

The selection committee of the EIB Institute’s Social Innovation Tournament (SIT), aiming to promote the generation of innovative ideas, considered this approach impressive and selected Magrid as one of its 15 finalists. “We had 15 applications from Luxembourg, which represents more than 5 percent of all applications received. Quite impressive, given the relative size of the country!”, Maria Luisa Ferreira, Head of Social at the EIB Institute, explained, “Magrid addresses a substantial and neglected societal issue in an innovative way, with potential to scale not only in Luxembourg but elsewhere as well.” In March 2021, Magrid had been implemented in all public schools in Luxembourg.

In the interview, Tahereh provided insights into SIT, future plans, and her view on the general acceptance and promotion of social innovation.

What is the social innovation in the application?

The aim is to reduce inequality and make education accessible to all, especially to the currently unserved or neglected population. Our tool aligns with relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely goal 4 “Quality Education” and goal 10 “Reduced Inequalities”.

We are all different and very individual. If we don’t have a good learning opportunity that works equally well for all pupils, it is mainly due to a lack of technique on our side, not on the part of the children. Magrid, as a tailor-made training adapts exactly to the needs of the student and for me, this is a promising approach for the future of education.

In which direction would you like Magrid to develop further?

Our agenda certainly includes expansion into new countries. For example, we are currently receiving a lot of encouragement and interest from the USA. In addition, many independent experiments are taking place in parallel: further tests with pupils with special needs, autistic pupils, hard of hearing, or deaf students. We are working hard to develop more products for different educational needs and work with educational centres on customised learning programs for students with dyscalculia, ADD or ADHD, and autism. While our products are currently explicitly tailored for children aged 4 to 8, we would like to develop tools for older children in the future. We also plan to commercialize our tool for use outside the classroom. We see the potential of our approach and want as many children as possible to benefit from it.

What about the training programme that the EIB Institute is organising until October? How helpful is it and do you like it?

The tournament has been great so far: the application was uncomplicated and possible in simple steps. The workshops and meetings are very well organized and the training programme is really tailor-made. So far, I have really enjoyed it, it is directly to the point and it’s exactly what we need.

The topics are very interesting, individual and it’s great to be able to have so many stimulating conversations on a 1:1 basis. It is very useful to exchange ideas in the field of social entrepreneurship. And I so much appreciate this initiative (the SIT) from the EIB (European Investment Bank) to promote social entrepreneurship.

In what ways can social innovations like yours be further promoted?

First of all, it is very important to create more awareness. People need to know about the existing social projects and their benefit to society so that they also get more recognition and encouragement.

In the case of Magrid, for example, any marketing opportunity is very beneficial at the moment, because our tool is currently only used in public schools. The private schools may not even know about it yet. So many more students could benefit from this approach to learning. Any support is precious at this stage, because the Magrid team is currently small although our vision is big.

Magrid, an incubator-based start-up of the University of Luxembourg and led by Tahereh Pazouki, is on the fast track: after winning the WSA Global Championship Award in the Learning and Education category a few months ago, it is now one of the 15 finalists of the EIB Institute’s Social Innovation Tournament.

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