https://www.qmul.ac.uk/careers/enterprise/funding/launch-it-awards/
Polygloss is a collaborative learning platform that takes an innovative approach for improving skills in another language. Despite spending years learning a language, many people still have trouble communicating. Polygloss is designed as image-guessing game where you can write creatively, express yourself, and play with others. It is ideal for learners of intermediate language proficiency who want to jumpstart their fluency and prepare to engage in conversations. The Android app has been released and played in over 54 languages by hundreds of players, and the iOS app is currently in development and has moved from the private tests to the public tests phase.
If so, what will be the social impact of your business and how will you measure this? (100 words max)
The prevalence of English as a business language is a result and a tool of imperial power. The economic impact at the individual level is reducing inequalities by empowering people to expand their sources of information, know their rights, and navigate systems. Systematically, research shows that emerging countries benefit from wide English education when participating at the global marketplace. Language is also a tool of self-determination, culture and history. UN estimates that half of the languages spoken today will become extinct within the next century. Language revitalisation and documentation projects are part of an effort to reverse this trend. We collaborate with EURAC Research providing data collected in local dialects, and our impact will be reflected on the scientific literature produced as a result.
The goal of our customers is to reach full professional fluency in a language. Learning a language, however, is considered a hard achievement not only because it takes a big investment of time, but also because people need to develop a variety of skills and they will do so in their own pace. One of the best ways to progress is having a personal tutor who will tailor a curriculum just for you, but this can be prohibetively expensive. Many companies tried to create scalable solutions to make it more accessible and convenient, however, they are almost always superficial. For example, most applications will have no exercises at all or exercises where one fixed correct answer is expected, making freedom of expression, which is essential for learning a language, impossible. Polygloss addresses these and other issues by using image-based exercises where learners collaborate with each other and express creatively. Learners are matched with each other, discuss the image to be guessed, navigate through lessons together, exchange corrections, and then do it again with a new partner, developing communication skills. For those who are learning on their own, it is the best complement to apps like Duolingo, following a textbook and even to regular classrooms as extra practice time.
I have a personal interest in learning languages, have tried a huge variety of products over the years, and was aware of specific obstacles in the learning process that coincide with market gaps. Duolingo alone has 42 million active monthly learners with no where to go when they finish Duolingo's course which only caters to beginner levels (A1 and A2 at the European proficiency framework). Through social media, I spent about half a year interacting with the language learning community, and the lack of suitable resources for intermediate levels is very well-known among the community as well. Initially, I created a mock of the idea using a web form and shared among friends and social media. The concept was very well accepted, so I developed an initial beta version of the app for Android. This app has been downloaded over 3000 times and played in 54 languages already, with stunning reviews at the Play Store well above the market average. We don't currently have many features designed for paid users only yet, but there are 10 premium susbscribers already. Although this is a small number, it is a validation that there are people willing to pay for a product in this niche.
In 2019, the digital language learning market was evaluated at USD 12.49 Billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 25.73 Billion by 2027, growing 10.2% annually. In addition to that, the Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on this market, with lockdowns and a lot of time spent at home. For example, Duolingo saw a 109% increase of sign-ups between March 9 and March 20 in 2020.
In the current globalised world, a lot of people have immigrated to a new country to work in tech or other new industries, are looking to work from home with international teams, and are trying to become fluent at a new language for various reasons. The demand for interpreters and translators is also expected to grow.