Interview


‘Where there is hardship, there is hope’


Kortext founder and CEO James Gray reflects on founding the company, his wider career, and some life-changing moments


Tell us a little about your background and qualifications? I grew up in Dorset, on the South Coast, where I still live. I have always had a passion for learning, and for the power of books to help us learn wherever we may be. So, I guess it was always inevitable that I’d end up working in academic books! However, when I look back, I can see that I was always fascinated by the ways technology can help people, too. I think this comes from having a


grandfather who was an engineer ahead of his time, and one of the designers of the Spitfire. He worked with Barnes Wallace, and he taught me so much about how technology is only as good as its ability to solve real problems, and how the very best ideas work so seamlessly and naturally, they feel like they must have been here forever.


When I was 18, the plan was to go to


university, but I’ve always believed there is a right time for everything, and instead I spent two years travelling the world - mostly sailing boats. I found that, when I returned to the UK


in my early 20s, my desire was to work in the world of universities, rather than study at one.


It was in the late 1980s, and retail


trends were just starting to change, with home deliveries becoming a more regular occurrence. However, when I spoke to people in the university sector, they told me that they could get almost everything delivered to their homes within a couple of days, but academic learning materials would take weeks to arrive. This was slowing down their ability to educate their students. This seemed like the perfect challenge to blend my twin desires of learning


22 Research Information December 2021/January 2022


and technology, so I set about solving the problem with the UK’s first effective academic learning materials next-day- delivery service – which evolved into being the first major provider of academic etextbooks.


The business was then acquired by a


US firm, who took me over to the States to consult with Amazon, Apple, Google, and others on their entries into the digital book world.


When, how and why did you found Kortext? By 2012, I had moved back to the UK, and was eager to make use of the remarkable new technology available at the time. I spoke to my old friends in university


libraries and administration offices around the country, and they told me they felt that the Higher Education sector was being left behind in the digital revolution. So, I founded Kortext with an aim to be the most engaging and supportive provider of digital learning materials – including etextbooks. My work with the major US tech firms had shown me how digital innovations could enhance reader experiences significantly, and that the data generated from millions of readers could show incredible levels of insight of predicted reader behaviours. This helped me realised that we would help change lives if we could create a


“My desire was to work in the world of universities, rather than study at one”


easy-to-use digital platform, available to students anywhere, anytime, with access to almost every etextbook imaginable, that allowed them to collaborate better with their educator and coursemates. So, that’s what we did. Our platform is


like a Kindle, but specifically focused on education, where through that account, you can connect to all your colleagues in your class, share your thoughts, share content, collaborate, communicate and have an improved learning experience. By 2021, we’ve become the nation’s most trusted HE digital learning and engagement platform, helping more than 1.3 million students in over 120 UK universities. And we pride ourselves on our


innovation and commitment to always improving the student experience.


What kind of innovations have you created? We have three broad areas of innovation we focus on - the Student Experience, the Educator Experience, and the Librarian Experience. In terms of the Student Experience,


we seek to create the most enjoyable, engaging platform – that helps students in the most personalised way possible. Innovations here include the ability to quickly and easily collaborate with course- mates, save key passages, and cite references professionally with one click of a button. We also feature a video section of related content that helps students expand their knowledge in key areas of curiosity.


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