Female Founded Tech Company Making a Mark in Education
Bethany Koby co-founded Technology Will Save Us (TWSU) in 2012, the company that will teach children the fundamentals of science through interactive, hands-on mediums like play dough.
Koby has a BFA in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design and was previously a design director for mega creative consultancy, Wolff Olins. Koby saw the need for a more interactive and effective way to educate and teach the fundamentals of technology and science. “There was a need for a business that could do a better job at empowering and inspiring the next generation of creators to make and be productive with tech in a fund and hands-on way” (Huffington Post interview June 2017).
Behany Koby studied Graphic Design and holds a master’s degree in Responsibility and Business Practice before she co-founded TWSU with her husband.
The conductive dough encourages creativity while teaching the child user how electricity is making the light or sound The kits are specialized for children between the ages of 4 and 12 and teach STEM fundamentals, as well as coding, and let the child invent everything from wearables, to instruments, to play dough dragons with fiery bright eyes, cars, and robots.
The “Squishy Tech Toys” are currently on Kickstarter and are slowly inching towards their $50,000 goal. The three kits being crowdfunded each include (in different variations) dough, controllers, and an app. The app will offer games and new projects to create and each kit will have different skills and directions. The three kits are: Squishy Sounds, Bright Creatures, and Electro Machine. The British based DIY kits have gotten praise from Fast Company, Yahoo!, Tech Age Kids, and Creativepool (to name a few) and have won awards from MoMA, TED, and The Design Museum.
The smart controllers are included in each kit.
Not only is this inventive and hands-on project opening doors for future inventors and engineers, it is breaking glass ceilings. Bethany Koby has made a mark in a male dominated tech industry as the CEO of the TWSU and is growing her start-up from her kitchen to a worldwide recognized educational tool. Her work as an entrepreneur has created more diversity and opportunity in a male saturated business. The success of Tech Will Save Us further proves the need to teach young girls (and boys) STEM skills early and effectively.
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