The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Showcase for Perth schools app firm
A Perth app developer is to be Scotland’s representative at a major educational technology show in London, writes Graham Huband.
Up to 40,000 delegates from more than 130 countries are expected to descend on the four-day Bett showcase at ExCeL London later this month.
Perth-based Apps Central has been invited by the Department for International Trade to join its UK Pavilion at the show.
Chief executive Mick Empson said he was delighted to be invited to take part in one of the largest global showcases for the educational technology industry.
The company’s education platform allows users to view a live calendar of school meetings, events and activities, and to filter relevant material, for example by school group, year or sport.
The app – which can be accessed by smartphone or tablet – also provides events information and enables those details to be shared via social media and the updating of information on contingencies such as late buses or changes to the normal school timetable.
Mr Empson , who has led the business since founding it in 2014, said Bett was a chance to really put his company’s schools app solution – which is already used by more than 300 education institutes across the UK and Ireland – firmly on the global map.
“Apps Central is developing exciting new services and features and we are currently signing up new schools at a rate of 30 every month and will double our turnover this year,” Mr Empson said.
“Thanks to the generous support of DIT, Bett 2018 will provide a major boost to our ambitions to partner with many more primary and secondary schools around the world as well as in the UK.”
Baroness Fairhead of DIT said Bett 2018 was a great opportunity for the edtech sector.
She said: “I am pleased that Apps Central will be exhibiting at the UK Pavilion next year, organised by the Department for International Trade.
“Attending trade shows like these is a great step for businesses starting their exporting journey, which is why DIT is committed to helping hundreds of companies to attend them, both in the UK and overseas.”