Happs Development is an SME focused on developing educational games. It was founded in 2015 and won several competitions as a start-up, such as Telenet Kickstart, KBC Start-it, Imec iStart.Happs was part of the Erasmus+ project A is for App and now its successor AdAPPtive.We envision that all children with or without ‘reading disabilities’ have the potential to achieve amazing feats.
Our mission is to build the best educational tools that remove as many barriers as possible to teach dyslectic children to read and write. This will result in the fact that dyslectic children regain confidence and have the opportunity to reach their full potential in life.
Focus within the project
We focus on how we can build the best possible educational adventure game based on academic research and user input, children, teachers, parents.
Hannes Hauwaert, the founder of Happs Development and the creator of Karaton, struggled with dyslexia himself throughout his childhood. He originally devised Karaton as a school project in college. He developed a tool/game to practice language in a fun and playful way. He knew from his own experience that this is not always obvious.By becoming a laureate of Telenet Kickstart, he was able to found his own startup and develop the Karaton game.Meanwhile, he has 7 years of experience as a project manager, UX/UI designer and game designer.
Mie has been active at various levels of education for many years. As a support worker in primary education, as a teacher in secondary and adult education and as a supervisor in second-chance education. At each level, she experienced the importance of language and the motivation to learn a language, especially among children and people who are struggling. She is currently associated with Happs Development where she does customer support and administration.