Rio Tinto continues tech education during coronavirus

According to Mining News Pro - The Rio Tinto-backed program involves 14 startups that will receive funding to provide school-age students with the skills needed for a digital future.

With the remote access, Australian school students, teachers, parents and tutors will be able to participate in the program despite the coronavirus restrictions.

“With the right support, the EdTech sector can take the necessary steps to set the foundation for a better future education system, enabled by technology, after the pandemic has passed,” Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said.

The Future Minds Accelerator is a collaboration between Rio Tinto, BlueChilli and Amazon Web Services (AWS), and is part of a $10 million investment in the education technology sector by Rio Tinto over four years.

Each startup will receive a $50,000 grant from Rio Tinto; access to an independent advisory council of business, education and innovation leaders; training and mentoring with BlueChilli entrepreneurs; and up to $US100,000 ($153,000) in AWS Activate Credits to help them scale using cloud technology.

“At a time where the challenges posed by COVID-19 seem to multiply on a daily basis, this phenomenal cohort of startups have been working as hard and as fast as they can to ensure that they are able to offer schools, teachers, parents, and students the solutions they need, at the time they need them the most,” BlueChilli program director Filipa Araújo concluded.