Susan Wu launches new education venture Luminaria to create an entirely new educational framework

Prominent startup investor and advisor Susan Wu has revealed she will be heading up a new education-focused venture called Luminaria, which looks to provide children with a new sort of school and education model focused on resilience, flexibility, and preparing students for an unpredictable and changing future.

Wu was an early investor in companies such as Twitter, and Canva, and has advised startups such as Reddit, Square, and Stripe. She has twice been named one of the most influential people in technology, and moved to Melbourne four years ago, splitting her time between here and California. Wu is also involved in leading startup and innovation conference above all human.

Luminaria is based locally, with the school already up and running with more than 130 students in Williamstown, Victoria. While the initial project is currently focused on the existing school, Wu told listeners at Pause Fest in Melbourne last week the vision for the project goes beyond one school or a handful of schools.

“We want to create tools, research, and frameworks we can use to accelerate the development and evolution of education for everyone,” she said.

“The school is just one instance of what we’re doing. What we’re really doing is building an education model comprised of many different frameworks.”

Wu says Luminaria’s model is highly scalable, using the example of it being a “full stack”. The base stack consists of educational philosophy, followed by pedagogy delivery, and cultivating and nurturing relationships. Read more

Dominic Powell - Smart Company - 12 Feb 2018