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Bethany Koby

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Bethany Koby
Alma materBath Spa University
Rhode Island School of Design
Bath Spa University
Fabrica
Employer(s)Fam Studio
Tech Will Save Us
Wolff Olins
Known forParticipatory Research, co-creation, Innovation, prototyping, and testing with kids and families
Websitehttps://www.famstudio.co/

Bethany Koby Bethany Koby is the co-founder and Chief Vision Officer of Fam Studio, a trailblazing research and design consultancy developing play-led technologies, learning programs, and planet-friendly experiences into powerful tools for positive change. Through the lens of design innovation and future thinking, Fam Studio envisions a world where every family can thrive in uncertainty, no matter their location. Their global influence touches lives from Africa and the Middle East to the United States and Europe, with a broad expertise spanning early childhood to adolescence and beyond.


Education and early career

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Koby is oringinally from Los Angeles, California.[1] Her mother was the founder and director of a Montessori school and her father was a commercial and artistic photographer.[2] She attributes this to her love of making.[2][3] She studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000.[2] She earned a Master of Science in responsibility and business practice from Bath Spa University, which she studied in an effort to inform the evolution of her design practice and ultimately, her entrepreneurial career.[4] She was a scholar at the Fabrica research centre. Koby joined the consultancy Wolff Olins, where she worked as creator director and social impact specialist for 9 years.[5] She became interested in more interactive and effective ways to teach young people technology.[6]

Career

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Koby co-founded Tech Will Save Us when she found a discarded laptop in Hackney in 2012.[7] Investors in their first seed-funding round included Gi Fernando, Christopher Mairs (chairman of Code Club) and Saatchi & Saatchi.[1] She worked with Nesta, Google and Mozilla to investigate what young people enjoyed and how it mapped to skills.[8]

Tech Will Save Us created DIY gadgets for everyday life that inspire creative imagination in young people.[5] They sold 8,000 units in their first year.[1] She raised a $1.8 million investment from venture capital funding, and sought the advice of Matt Webb and Tracy Doree.[7][8] They have sold kits in over 100 countries and several major retailers, including in John Lewis, Barnes & Noble and Myer.[9] Their kits have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art and Design Museum.[2] In 2009 she collaborated with the Dalston Mill to present an art show for the Barbican Centre.[4] She has taught classes at Kaospilot.[4] In 2015 Koby partnered with the BBC to ensure one million eleven-year-old children had access to a Micro Bit.[7] She designed the Tech Will Save Us Mover Kit, which raised £50,000 from a two-day crowdfunding campaign.[7][10] The Mover Kit is a toy wearable for children that they can code themselves.[2] In 2016 they won Best Hardware at the Europas and in 2017 they were awarded the Best Kids Tech Kit from the Consumer Technology Association.[11] In 2018 they raised $4.2 million in Series A funding.[12] They collaborated with The Walt Disney Company on a Marvel Avengers themed kit that encourages children to invent superheroes to complete secret missions.[13][14]

Koby recognises that parental buy-in is essential to reach children and young people.[15][16] She has written for Goop and presented at the Family Tech Summit.[17][18] An interview with her appears in the Coursera course on Brand Management.[19] Koby was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs in the UK tech sector by Growth Business in 2017.[20] She was championed by Innovate UK as one of their Game Changers.[21] She is one of the Creative Review Creative Leaders 50.[22] She is on the advisory board of The Education Foundation.[23] She was voted Innovator of the Year in the Tech Playmaker Awards in 2018.[24] She delivered the Design School Pioneers Lecture at the University of the Arts London in January 2018, and has been part of various Maker Faires.[25][26]

In 2019, Koby was 22nd in Computer Weekly's 50 'Most Influential Women in UK Tech' shortlist for her role as CEO and co-founder of Technology Will Save Us.[27]

Her leadership in educational technology has earned her a place on the board of trustees at the Institute of Imagination (iOi) and The Visionaries, as well as fellowships with the Bio Leadership Program and the Learning Sciences Exchange program (LSX), backed by New America and the Jacobs Foundation.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "A DIY tech evangelist scales up before BBC's Micro Bit giveaway". Financial Times. 2015-04-06. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  2. ^ a b c d e Dunn, Laura Emily (2017-06-02). "Women in Business Q&A: Bethany Koby, Co-Founder, Technology Will Save Us". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  3. ^ "Bethany Koby, CEO of Tech Will Save Us | Startup Salon | The Good Web Guide". www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  4. ^ a b c "Bethany Koby". www.oneclub.org. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  5. ^ a b "WoW Woman in IoT | Bethany Koby, Co-founder and CEO of Technology Will Save Us". WOMEN OF WEARABLES. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  6. ^ "Female Founded Tech Company Making a Mark in Education". Beyond Design. 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  7. ^ a b c d "Game changers: Bethany Koby - Innovate UK". innovateuk.blog.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  8. ^ a b Hern, Ninez; flirt, ez A. sensitive; Tease, An Awkward; Engineer, A. Metallurgical; surprisingly. (2016-12-17). "Technology Will Save Us: Sparking Kids' Imaginations Around The World". GineersNow. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  9. ^ "Find a stockist". Tech Will Save Us. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  10. ^ Rhodes, Margaret (2016-05-11). "This Hackable Wearable Is for Kids Who Don't Mess Around". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  11. ^ TableCrowd (2016-07-18). "Dine with Europas Winner, Bethany Koby at dinner next week". Table Crowd Blog. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  12. ^ "Tech Will Save Us raises $4.2M for its tech-focused range of toys, partners with Disney". TechCrunch. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  13. ^ "Marvel Avengers Electro Hero Kit | Learn STEM". Tech Will Save Us. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  14. ^ Hutchins, Robert. "UK's Tech Will Save Us scores $4.2m funding as it prepares Disney Marvel tech-infused toy line". ToyNews. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  15. ^ Douglas, Ian (23 December 2015). "This woman wants to teach your child how to code and create their own gadgets this Christmas". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  16. ^ Hedges, Frances (2018-08-29). "Life lessons: what I've learnt about running a tech start-up". Harper's BAZAAR. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  17. ^ "Teaching Kids to Code". Goop. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  18. ^ "Bethany Koby". FamilyTech. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  19. ^ "1.3 Interview with Bethany Koby, Director, Technology Will Save Us - Brand Purpose & Experience". Coursera. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  20. ^ "7 entrepreneurs leading the way for women in technology". Growth Business. 2017-03-06. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  21. ^ UK, Innovate. "Innovate My School - The woman who's getting hands-on with learning [insight]". www.innovatemyschool.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  22. ^ "Bethany Koby - Creative Review". 23 May 2016. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  23. ^ "Advisors". The Education Foundation. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  24. ^ "Last Year's Awards | Technology Playmaker Awards 2019". techplaymakerawards.com. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  25. ^ "Bethany Koby: Creative Pioneer". GMD/LCC. 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  26. ^ "Inventing a Creative Tech Tool to Empower a New Generation". Maker Faire. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  27. ^ "Computer Weekly announces the Most Influential Women in UK Tech 2019". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
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