Digitalme and Makewaves join City & Guilds Group

Digitalme and Makewaves are joining the City & Guilds Group to form a new business unit known simply as Digitalme. We will be working with the City & Guilds Group to combine our expertise around Open Badges with their experience in assessment services.

How do you show what you know and can do? And how do you demonstrate that, digitally? Over the past five years, we at Digitalme have seen the power of using Open Badges — web-native credentials that capture and credential learning, wherever it happens. We have witnessed the impact this can have on individual lives, particularly around building confidence and developing skills.

Back in 2011, the Open Badges standard was created by the Mozilla Foundation with the support of the MacArthur Foundation, a US-based philanthropic organisation that funded our first exploratory work. Since then, Digitalme has been at the forefront of the Open Badges movement, working with Mozilla to shape the technology underpinning Open Badges, and supporting the community around it. We have seen thousands of organisations from schools, through to universities and major employers, adopting the Open Badges standard. It is fast becoming a global learning currency for recognising and sharing achievements.

The past few years have involved Digitalme:

• supporting employers to create badges that have real value in their sector(s)
• encouraging educators to find ways to create more flexible and adaptable learning pathways
• helping individuals gain validation for the skills they develop in informal settings
• working in close partnership with Mozilla, advocating for the Open Badges standard and helping to shape the next version of the technical infrastructure
• collaborating with Makewaves to develop learning communities and award-winning badge issuing and discovery platforms

Earlier this year, together with our sister company Makewaves, we launched the Open Badge Academy to support our design, consultancy, and technology development work in the UK and beyond. This platform has proved a huge hit with educators and employers looking for more flexible ways to respond to the needs we all face in today’s digital age economy.

Today, we are delighted to announce that Digitalme and Makewaves are joining the City & Guilds Group to form a new business unit known simply as Digitalme. We will be working with the City & Guilds Group to further their purpose of helping people and organisations to develop their skills for personal and economic growth. We believe this to be a huge boost for the whole Open Badges movement gaining even more traction.

This announcement is the culmination of an exciting few years for both Makewaves and Digitalme. We are pleased that we have found a new home with the City & Guilds Group where we can scale the impact of digital credentials.

“Our shared expertise, strong brands and complementary values — as well as our commitment to shaping the future of skills development — will place us at the forefront of this emerging global movement.” (Chris Jones, Chief Executive City & Guilds Group)

As a non-profit, Digitalme has found the perfect fit in joining the City & Guilds Group, an international charity operating in 80 countries. We will be able to offer accreditation services through The City & Guilds of London Institute, the leading skills development organisation that provides qualifications valued by employers around the world. Adding Open Badges into the equation means for more granular, targeted, and meaningful digital credentials that meet the needs of today’s workplace.

“We’re excited to see that City and Guilds are investing in Digitalme and Makewaves and working with employers to to unlock real opportunities for individuals.” (Mark Surman, Executive Director Mozilla Foundation)

Under the new Digitalme brand, we will join forces with Makewaves to offer a complete technology and consultancy service for digital credentialing. We will work alongside new colleagues at City & Guilds to integrate Open Badges across all of their vocational and work based qualifications. New customers will join early adopters such as O2, BBC Make It Digital, NHS, London 2012, and many more.

For existing customers of Digitalme and Makewaves, we’d like to thank you for your custom, and assure you that the next few months will largely be business as usual. After we are fully integrated with the City & Guilds Group, the new Digitalme will begin to offer additional products and services around digital credentialing in both core and untapped markets. We look forward to being able to welcome many new customers from around the world who will be able to benefit not only from Digitalme’s expertise in digital credentials, but the power of City & Guilds’ assessment services and brand.

We look forward to your continued support of the Open Badges movement and joining us on the the next stage of our journey.