Kinems revolutionizes education with AI-powered, multisensory learning experiences on Microsoft Azure

Kinems, a company striving to expand inclusive education, needed technology to make multisensory learning experiences accessible to more students with diverse needs.

Using Microsoft Azure, Kinems developed a flexible and cross-device Windows app with personalized educational games. It also used Power BI and Azure Synapse Analytics to assess student performance.

Kinems made inclusive education accessible in more than 440 schools in Greece, enhancing student engagement, improving skills retention, and empowering educators with actionable insights.

Kinems, a Greece-based learning games developer company, is working to create innovative learning experiences for students, including those who are identified as neurodivergent. The company draws on its founders’ extensive experience in learning technologies and mainstream education. "Our main mission has always been to help children with learning disabilities reach their full potential, and we saw the role technology could play in this mission," recalls Symeon Retalis, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Kinems. “Instead of isolating children with disabilities, giving them special programs, and then trying to reintegrate them, we create an environment where all children can participate.”

Building inclusive education

Kinems’ initial focus was on creating learning modules for children with autism, dyspraxia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "We first developed movement-based games that combined motor skill exercises with subjects like math and language. We also gamified traditional occupational therapy methods to make them more engaging for children,” notes Retalis.

Over time, Kinems started providing diverse ways to present and interact with the material. This led to the Kinems Windows app, which enabled students to access the games on touch devices. "Now, teachers can create stations in their classrooms—movement-based activities at one station, tablets at another, interactive boards elsewhere, and even traditional paper-based tasks. This multi-modal approach fosters both collaboration and individual learning, creating a fully inclusive environment," Retalis adds.

Choosing the best technology foundation

From the start, Kinems partnered with Microsoft to build and scale its solution. As a Microsoft for Startups company, Kinems received technical, marketing and promotional support. The company also was a part of the Microsoft Co-sell program. “We also joined an incubation program at the Microsoft Innovation Center, giving us an opportunity to exchange ideas and know-how with Microsoft professionals,” shares Retalis. “Microsoft played a significant role in helping us identify the best partners and resellers in education.” This allowed the company to expand its network and reach more schools efficiently.

Kinems started using a variety of Microsoft products along its journey. For example, initially, it designed its software around the Kinect camera, a motion sensing input device. “We saw a unique opportunity with this motion-based technology, as it engaged both the body and mind while making learning fun. It was a perfect fit for children who needed both sensory and motor skill development. We conducted extensive research and development, and with Microsoft’s support, we accelerated our efforts.” As the field of artificial intelligence (AI) took off, Kinems evolved beyond needing the Kinect camera, achieving similar functionality with a standard camera.

Next, Kinems chose Microsoft Azure as the foundation for its platform. "Azure provides not only technical capabilities but also cost-effective infrastructure, which is essential for scaling," Retalis shares. “Thanks to Microsoft Azure, we seamlessly manage usage peaks, enabling our solution to thrive in over 440 schools in Greece and eight states in the U.S.”

“Thanks to Microsoft Azure, we seamlessly manage usage peaks, enabling our solution to thrive in over 440 schools in Greece and eight states in the U.S.”

Symeon Retalis, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Kinems

Additionally, Azure’s robust security ensures compliance with FERPA, COPPA, and other student data privacy regulations. While Kinems doesn’t store personal data, schools must operate in a highly secure, closed environment, and Azure supports that. Using multiple Microsoft Azure regions, Kinems also ensures data governance and compliance with local regulations in Europe and the U.S.

To track progress and engagement, Kinems leverages Microsoft analytics tools. It also uses Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI to provide teachers with meaningful insights. Power BI dashboards track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as school activity, student progress, and goal completion for game-based activities. “Now, instead of saying, ’Based on my observation, I noticed this’, teachers and therapists have concrete student data to redesign their approaches,” adds Retalis. Real-time data integration and predictive analytics make it possible to monitor progress and identify future opportunities. Together, these technologies streamline reporting, reduce manual effort, and drive cost savings, allowing Kinems to deliver impactful, data-driven solutions to educators and students at scale.

Improving learning outcomes through engagement

Kinems prioritizes research to ensure its solution meets the needs of both students and educators. With a large research and development team based in Greece, the company has conducted efficacy studies in schools and clinical settings to validate its effectiveness and map next steps. These studies help Kinems assess how well students develop skills and how those skills are retained over time.

One Kinems’ study demonstrated lasting growth in children’s abilities. "We observed steady progress in children’s skills and their retention. For example, when the school year ended in June and resumed in September, kids maintained the skills they had acquired," Retalis explains. The data also revealed that children showed significant improvement after approximately 12 sessions, equivalent to about three months of consistent use. "Our students typically achieve a remarkable 35% improvement in math and literacy skills within just a few months, along with a 40% boost in sensory-motor development, even among neurodiverse learners," highlights Retalis.

“Our students typically achieve a remarkable 35% improvement in math and literacy skills within just a few months, along with a 40% boost in sensory-motor development, even among neurodiverse learners.”

Symeon Retalis, Chief Scientific Officer, Kinems

The platform also fosters engagement by making learning feel like play. “With Kinems, when the bell rings at the end of the class, students don’t want to leave,” shares Evangelos Vasiliou, speech therapist and special education teacher at the Agios Dimitrios Special Vocational Training Centre in Athens. Retalis adds, "Since the learning module feels like a game, they don’t think about how much time they’re spending on a task.” 92% of students using Kinems report higher engagement, and 85% of educators affirm Kinems’ ease in addressing diverse learning needs. “I remember visiting a school where we conducted a study, and the kids were so excited when we returned. They associated our faces with Kinems and eagerly said, “Kinems is back!” Moments like that are incredibly rewarding and reinforce the impact of our work,” recounts Retalis.

Collaborative, efficient teaching processes

Teachers also report positive outcomes. For example, the Special Vocational Training Laboratory of Agios Dimitrios Centre, trains students with special needs, aiming to develop their daily living and vocational skills. The Kinems Windows app is integral to this process, supporting cognitive, motor, and executive function development.

Vasiliou, further explains: "The platform saves a lot of time in lesson preparation because it provides ready-made activities. But more importantly, it supports collaboration among teachers and therapists. For example, a speech therapist might identify a goal with a student and then share this goal with other educators. The language teacher, the speech therapist, and maybe even the occupational therapist can work together on related aspects, such as phoneme-grapheme correspondence.”

Partnering for inclusion and innovation

Equipped with research-backed outcomes and partnerships built through conferences, Kinems was successful in getting an opportunity to pitch its solution to the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports in Greece. This approval allowed the platform to reach even more schools, furthering Kinems’ goal to make individualized education accessible to more students.

The company is exploring Microsoft artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to integrate features like text-to-speech, motion analysis, and sentiment analytics. "We plan to use Azure OpenAI Service and other technologies to make sentiment analytics a reality. This approach would allow us to deliver personalized exercises to different children while ensuring the teacher has full control over the content," Retalis shares. Additionally, Kinems is experimenting with AI-powered personalized content generation, which would enable teachers to tailor exercises based on students’ interests and needs, making lessons more engaging and relevant. The company is also developing AI-driven tools for reading and language analysis, aimed at supporting students with dyslexia and other literacy challenges.

Kinems’ collaboration with Microsoft empowers its commitment to inclusive education. Retalis remarks, "Having a partner like Microsoft helped make our vision a reality. We closely follow what our partner is doing with accessibility and learning tools and we’re often inspired by Microsoft’s innovations, striving to incorporate them into our work."

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