Innovation should improve lives — especially in education.
We’re proud to share that Breakout Learning has been named a 2026 Finalist by the Edison Awards, one of the world’s most respected honors recognizing excellence in new product and service innovation.
Since 1987, the Edison Awards have celebrated groundbreaking technologies, services, and leaders shaping the future. Often referred to as the “Oscars of Innovation,” the program reviews thousands of nominations each year and selects fewer than 150 finalists across industries ranging from health and energy to consumer technology and education.
To be included among this year’s finalists is an incredible honor — and a reflection of the educators and institutions who continue to push teaching and learning forward.
The Edison Awards are unique in that finalists are selected after an intensive evaluation process by senior executives, scientists, designers, marketers, and educators from around the world. Being named a finalist signals not only novelty, but meaningful impact.
For Breakout, this recognition validates something we’ve believed from day one:
Discussion is one of the most powerful — and underutilized — tools in higher education.
In a world increasingly shaped by AI-generated content, written discussion boards are becoming harder to assess and easier to outsource. We built Breakout Learning to solve a growing challenge: how do you preserve authentic student thinking, participation, and critical reasoning in the age of AI?
Our answer was simple, but transformative — bring discussion back to real-time, spoken conversation.
Breakout replaces traditional written discussion boards with live, structured small-group conversations. Students engage face-to-face (or screen-to-screen), respond in real time, and explain their thinking out loud.
When students have to articulate ideas verbally, respond to peers on the spot, and reason through follow-up questions, understanding becomes visible.
There’s no copy-paste.
No prompt engineering.
No polishing with AI assistance.
Just authentic intellectual engagement.
Faculty gain deeper insight into student comprehension. Students build confidence, communication skills, and the ability to think critically in dynamic settings. Institutions strengthen academic integrity while improving student outcomes.
This isn’t innovation for the sake of it — it’s innovation grounded in the lived realities of today’s classroom.
While we’re honored by this recognition, this milestone belongs to far more than our team.
It belongs to:
Breakout has always been built in partnership with educators. Every feature, every iteration, every improvement has come from listening closely to the people doing the work every day.
This finalist recognition is a reflection of that community.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners will be announced at the Edison Awards Gala in Fort Myers, Florida in April 2026. Finalists will gather alongside innovators from startups to Fortune 500 companies to celebrate the year’s most impactful advancements.
Regardless of the outcome, being named a finalist affirms that rethinking discussion in higher education is not just necessary — it’s globally relevant.
As technology continues to accelerate, education faces an important question: how do we respond?
At Breakout Learning, we believe the answer lies in conversation, reasoning, collaboration, and the ability to communicate ideas clearly and confidently.
We’re honored that this work is being recognized on a global stage — and we’re grateful to the educators who trust us to support the next generation of innovators.
Onward.