New academic year presents new opportunities and challenges for Educational Technology

With summer now being officially over September carries with it the promise of new beginnings. I would like to make note of this special time of the year and to extend my sincere best wishes to all of the Simbound collaborators and clients.

A recent statistic informs us that the global education industry has recently surpassed the 5 Trillion $ mark, which is roughly 8 times larger than the entire software services industry. One of the main drivers of this fantastic growth is without a doubt educational technology, which is expected to reach 5% of the total educational market by 2020 totaling more than $250 Billion in expenditure.

Educational technology will continue to open new doors for those willing to learn and become active members of today’s expanding digital economy. There are new and exciting investment opportunities emerging across the wider learning landscape.  With 95,4% of total business revenue coming from international clients Simbound is a successful example of how education and technology can work together and deliver lasting value across borders and cultural barriers.

Simbound commercial and licensing partners have built an extended network of schools who are now using Simbound year after year. This creates the optimum platform on which to build the next generation of digital business learning materials. For the coming years I expect university decision makers at all levels to be less steeped in tradition and to be more willing to experiment with new learning technologies. Their active participation is essential to the growth of this vast and ever evolving ecosystem.

In spite of the general conditions being abound with optimism and opportunity technology adoption also presents new challenges. In the USA alone we have identified and are currently closely monitoring what could potentially turn out to be one of the biggest copyright infringement cases in educational software. The potential implications  of this development can have far reaching consequences for many reputable academic sector constituents and their current good standing. To make things clear, Simbound is and will always remain the original digital marketing simulation game. No other individual or company has been issued with the right to commercialise a similar service in any aspect. Any entity or individuals partaking in this highly complex infringement case will continue to do so at their own risk.

Protection of intellectual property, the discouragement of plagiarism and the active promotion and recognition of unique contributions to the educational field and body of knowledge are the very same values on which universities have functioned and have been growing for centuries. While technology has enabled new ways of working together at a distance we must continue and rely on sound principles if we are to aim for reaching lasting progress. 

Thank you once more to all of those who made the active learning of digital marketing become a reality for students. Wherever you may find yourself around the world and whatever you will be learning about I wish you to obtain success in all of your endeavors! 

Yours sincerely, 

Louis Havriliuc - Simbound