Two 26-year-old Welsh entrepreneurs have secured a £415,000 contract from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), just two years after founding their education technology company.
Jamie Fones and William Griffiths founded Redpen AI in 2024 with a vision to reduce teacher workload and improve outcomes for Training StartUp of the Year at the 2026 Wales UK StartUp Awards. The company has also been shortlisted for the Business-Education Partnership Award at the 2026 Powys Business Awards
The latest £415,000 contract represents a significant milestone for the growing Welsh business, which will lead a 12-month international research project investigating whether AI can recognise early indicators of dyslexia from photos of children’s handwritten schoolwork.
Led by Redpen AI, the project brings together researchers from the University of York and the Pattern Recognition and Human Language Technologies Research Center at Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain, combining expertise in psychology, handwriting recognition and artificial intelligence.
Jamie Fones, Co-founder of Redpen AI, said:
“When Will and I started Redpen, we wanted to build technology that could make a genuine difference in classrooms. To be leading a £415,000 research project just two years later, alongside internationally recognised researchers, is a huge milestone for us.
“We’ve already seen how AI can help teachers understand pupils’ work and provide more personalised support. This project takes that vision further. If we’re successful, we could help teachers recognise when a child might need additional support much earlier, using the work they’re already doing every day.”
The research will explore whether patterns in children’s handwriting can provide reliable indications of dyslexia risk, potentially helping schools recognise when pupils may benefit from further assessment or support.
Rather than requiring children to complete a separate handwriting exercise, the proposed technology would analyse photographs of writing they already produce during lessons. The aim is to provide additional evidence to support teachers and special educational needs coordinators, rather than deliver a diagnosis or replace professional assessment.
Will Griffiths, Co-founder of Redpen AI, said:
“Having worked as a teacher myself, I know how difficult it can be for schools to identify children who need additional support. Teachers are already stretched, and with an estimated 10% of children having dyslexia, there are potentially thousands of pupils struggling in school without anyone fully understanding why.
“That’s what excites me most about this project. We’re exploring whether something as simple as a photograph of a child’s handwriting could help recognise early signs of dyslexia, giving teachers the information they need to support children sooner.
“Being awarded £415,000 by UKRI is a massive opportunity for us. There’s still plenty of research ahead, but if we can help even a fraction of these children get the support they deserve earlier, the impact could be enormous. Ultimately, that’s why we started Redpen AI in the first place.”
Dr Elpis Pavlidou, Associate Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of York, said:
“This work matters deeply to me because behind every dyslexia risk flag is a child who needs to be understood, and family and teachers who want to help them thrive.
“AI has real potential to help us flag risk sooner but it needs to be grounded in rigorous evidence and high ethical standards.”
The project, which began in October 2026, will focus on developing and evaluating the technology with academic researchers and schools, with the aim of establishing whether the approach could support earlier identification of learning needs.
For Redpen AI, the work forms part of a wider ambition to give teachers the tools to understand not just how pupils are progressing, but when they might need additional support.
