Autism Expressed wins $20K Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition Award

Autism Expressed, the digital literacy startup for special education, won a $20,000 award at the Milken-Penn Graduate School of Education Business Plan Competition yesterday. The award was for innovation in special education.

Autism Expressed was one of four edtech startups that won awards at the competition, and the only local company. Two hundred and fifty companies from 17 countries entered the  competition, according to the release.

Find a full list of winners here.

Founded by South Philadelphia High School special education teacher Michele McKeone, Autism Expressed aims to teach digital literacy to special education students. Read more about the company here.

The competition is part of Penn GSE executive director Bobbi Kurshan‘s vision for Philadelphia as the “heart of an East Coast global edtech hub.” (Though one hopes to see more local companies competing and winning in the future.) The prize money for the competition has grown from a total of $40,000 to $145,000, as the Philadelphia Inquirer noted.

Penn GSE also announced the launch of the Education Design Studio Fund, an incubator for edtech startups.

Read more about the competition on the Public School Notebook.