DBF Interviews: Darya Yegorina – CEO of CleverBooks

Darya Yegorina is a serial entrepreneur, CEO of CleverBooks and other ventures in multiple industries.  She is a professional speaker on a global scale, representing women in tech and inspiring new entrepreneurs.

We caught up with Darya to talk about the exciting benefits of augmented reality in the classroom, the future career implications of technology for our digital natives, collaborative makerspace environments and some of the pitfalls that budding entrepreneurs should avoid.

Darya will be speaking at The Business Clinic, in association with Local Enterprise Office – Dublin.

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Hi Darya. What has been your favourite implementation of Augmented Reality technology in the classroom so far, and have you encountered any challenges along the way?

Well, we recently joined forces with Ancient History Encyclopaedia, so that you can interact with the world’s past right on your desk! The interactive AR map has been carefully illustrated and features voice-overs by young students. This helps with students’ pronunciation and their understanding of the names of different cultural landmarks.

Through this immersive technology, landmarks around the world can be viewed and explored in 3D, travelling through countries and continents in seconds. Extra information can be triggered and shown right on the screen of the mobile device, drawn from its vast database of over 2000 history articles. To date, over 1000 schools regularly use the resource in class. Very exciting!

The main challenge is finding various means of putting our ideas into practice. We chase early adopters that are not that easy to find. AR is gaining popularity rapidly, so we must keep up with the pace!

As stated by the World Economic Forum, 65{81d1184065c7f9cfaf23e8b3f52f53664bbbabdb8ac3ae7b4d9dfca466b9b382} of current primary students will work in jobs that do not even exist yet. Are parents and teachers adapting their career development strategies for our digital natives?

Yes. Schools are obliged to innovate, by building a strong ICT infrastructure in order to accommodate 21st-century learning demands for K-12 students. If we cast our minds back to over a decade ago, we may recall that job titles such as “SMM manager”, “Digital Marketer”, “iOS” or “Android Developer”, “AR/VR developer” or “Blockchain Specialist” didn’t exist. The jobs are powered by new technologies and they drive the job market. We must advise young students to also acquire skills that technology won’t replace.

We cannot rely on traditional teaching methods that are mostly outdated (in my opinion). A new digital revolution requires new skills. Parents are buying those products powered by new tech for their kids because it develops curiosity and interest in tech at early stages.

Your company’s mission is to provide accessible and engaging AR tools for classrooms around the world. Can you give similar examples of collaborative tangible learning experiences in entrepreneurial settings, for example, in creative makerspaces aka FabLabs or Hackerspaces?

There is a plan to launch something very exciting in Dublin next year. This will bring emerging tech directly to many kids, free of charge.

CleverBooks is also working on a collaborative educational AR empowered tool which we plan to launch in 2019. This will empower several schools in over 20 countries, and will enable them to collaborate and learn together simultaneously in several languages. We look forward to facilitating this community!

Excellent. You are also an ambassador for Women of Wearables in Dublin. Congratulations! What are your main tips for those budding entrepreneurs out there?

Go for it! Everyone should chase their dreams and aim to implement their ideas. A lot of people get bogged down in funding applications. This can ultimately make people compromise their visions and lose sight of why they wanted to start up their own business in the first place.

Keep in mind how many people are on planet Earth: if you think you are the only one who is coming up with such an idea, you are most likely mistaken! While you are sleeping someone else on the other side of the globe is already bringing similar ideas to fruition. Waiting for the best moment, or until you are ready, won’t help. Just Do it, like one famous company says.

Super! We look forward to seeing you at The Business Clinic, Darya. Thanks so much for taking the time out to speak with us.

To find out more about Cleverbooks and their online shop, you can check out https://www.cleverbooks.eu/