- GEMS Education partnered with Canva and Affinity to provide over 10,000 teachers and 150,000 students access to premium, AI-powered creative tools across its global network.
- The collaboration integrates creativity, AI, and entrepreneurship into learning, supporting initiatives like the GEMS Global Innovation Challenge and UAE national innovation strategies.
- Students and educators gain industry-grade design and visual storytelling skills, empowering future-ready creators, designers, and digital entrepreneurs.
GEMS Education has entered into a strategic partnership with Canva and Affinity to provide access to more than 10,000 teachers and 150,000 students across multiple curricula to the premium functionalities of Canva.
A version of its immensely powerful AI-driven creative platform with use cases that extend far beyond traditional education. Canva will also support the GEMS Global Innovation Challenge, leading design thinking and business deck workshops to help students transform ideas into investment-ready ventures. Learners and educators alike can take advantage of the professional creative suite from Affinity, mastering advanced skills in design and visual storytelling.
In line with the UAE National Strategy for Advanced Innovation and the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, this partnership further cements GEMS' promise of integrating AI, creativity, and entrepreneurship throughout each learner's experience. By fostering the future generation of storytellers, designers, and digital entrepreneurs, the partnership also furthers the development of the UAE's creative economy, inspired by national initiatives such as the 1 Billion Followers Summit that advocates creativity for the region's content creators and digital innovators.
"We're very excited about this partnership, which is all about democratising creativity. Whether it's a five-year-old exploring design for the first time or a teenager pitching a business idea, we're giving them the tools and confidence to bring their imagination to life", says Baz Nijjar, Vice President, Education Technology & Digital Innovation at GEMS
Canva for Education gives students and teachers free access to the premium version of Canva's all-in-one visual communication platform, specifically developed for schools. More than 100 million teachers, students, and education leaders have adopted Canva every month.
Canva for Education supports educators in bringing lessons to life and provides students with the opportunity to develop important communication, collaboration, and creative thinking skills by providing premium tools, templates, and AI-powered features without charge. This partnership represents the next step in extending those benefits to GEMS classrooms, equipping learners with future-ready creative confidence and technical proficiency.
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"This partnership with GEMS reflects our commitment toward reimagining the role of technology and creativity in education. We provide students and teachers with access to Canva and hands-on learning experiences to empower them toward creative thinking, designing boldly, and leading the innovation agenda for tomorrow. We are not just teaching skills; together, we are cultivating a generation of thinkers and creators that would shape the future with their imagination", says Ahmad Iqbal, General Manager, Canva MENAP
Affinity, now part of the Canva family, is a suite of professional-grade creative applications used by creative professionals around the world, including Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher. In this partnership, GEMS students and teachers are granted access to the same powerful tools utilized in the design industry to advance their creative and technical skills in illustration, photo editing, and publishing.
This news comes off the back of the recent announcement of Affinity's refreshed brand and its new product launch at Canva's World Tour keynote in Sydney on Oct. 30th. It was also announced that Affinity was going completely free, and since announcement, has seen over two million sign ups. As part of the Canva x GEMS collaboration, the story of Canva's Co-Founder and CEO Melanie Perkins, her journey of turning a simple idea into a global creative platform, will be included in the GEMS Determined Genius Entrepreneurship Academy.
This will be alongside other stories about GEMS Founder and Chairman Sunny Varkey and US-based YouTube content creator and philanthropist MrBeast, inspiring the entrepreneurial spirit in every student and teacher to dream, design, and disrupt.
