Children have a natural fascination for their environment: their spirit for discovery motivates them to explore the unknown world. The desire to know how things work is in their innate character. But often at school, they rarely have the chance to gain real-world experience or share what they've learned with others.

Combining the traditional and digital

Anna and Franziska are two young women from Germany who envisioned revolutionizing the way children learn at school. They asked themselves: How can a new, interdisciplinary, and collaborative learning culture emerge; one that not only makes knowledge tangible but also creates entirely new digital learning potential? This is how “Heartucate” came to life.

Their goal was to foster the collaborative and future-thinking abilities of young students. To make this work, the duo started designing an educational solution that encourages students to interact with different stories and have hands-on experience of what they learn through augmented and mixed reality.

Creative and collaborative learning through mixed reality and 5G

“The basic idea for Heartucate had already existed for a while, but our decision to compete for Samsung Solve for Tomorrow ultimately provided the initial spark to finally get started,” said Franziska. “We thought to ourselves, we have all these ideas and vision. Let's try it!” commented Anna.

Together, they designed Heartucate as an educational solution that integrates current mixed reality technologies into the classroom alongside 5G. Heartucate creates thematical complexes that combine different subjects ranging from mathematical and scientific skills to languages and simultaneously encourages students to interact with the stories. With Heartucate, children become time travelers in a treasure hunting adventure. They explore the world through mixed reality technologies and work towards a shared goal.

An idea becomes a business model

“Through Solve for Tomorrow, we got exactly the support, learnings, and insights that really helped us move forward in our development. It helped us a lot to take the next step,” said Anna and Franziska.

The participants could not only expand their entrepreneurial knowledge but make their dream come true. Within the one-year time frame of Solve for Tomorrow, Heartucate made enough progress to establish their own business. The team also qualified for the EXIST Business Start-up Grant, a renowned support program of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The incredible story of Heartucate shows what can be achieved with real commitment, an unswerving belief in one's own idea, and the right mentors. Samsung will continue to inspire many more young innovators to implement unique ideas that can make a difference and help the next generation successfully prepare for the future.