DUOLINGO is the learning platform that makes language studies fun and effective. The company´s roots can be traced back to Carnegie Mellon University, where Professor Luis von Ahn (Duolingo CEO) and his graduate student Severin Hacker (Duolingo CTO) pondered the transformative power of free education. The two tech gurus created a free science-based language education platform that provides a private tutor experience through technology — and has amassed more than 300 million worldwide learners. Students can choose from over 30 languages, from popular choices like Spanish and French to more obscure obsessions like High Valyrian and Klingon. Addictive gamification strategies and research-backed learning principles have led Duolingo to become one of the most widely downloaded — and actively used — educational apps. In salute to the potential polyglots of the world, the BV judging panel names Duolingo as recipient of the 2019 global award for Most Innovative Language Education Platform.
