European Edtech News

Insights from London Edtech Week and should we ban or teach AI?

European EdTech Alliance — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:05:09 GMT

Today, educational technology extends far beyond the classroom. EdTech enables learning at every stage of life and touches every industry. Despite its growing importance, many European EdTech companies, developing solutions to address some of our most pressing education and workforce challenges, lack the coordinated support needed to scale, demonstrate impact, and reach wider markets.

In June, London EdTech Week 2026 welcomed more than 2,000 educators, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers and ecosystem leaders from 61 countries. There was a strong sense that the sector has entered a new phase characterised not only by technological innovation, but by a growing focus on evidence, impact and collaboration.

As the sector continues to mature, demonstrating what works, for whom, and under what conditions will be critical to building trust among educators, institutions and policymakers. Equally important is strengthening collaboration among industry, academia, government, and investors to accelerate adoption, inform policy and create the conditions for sustainable growth.

In this edition of the newsletter, we highlight key insights, announcements, and opportunities shaping the future of EdTech across Europe.

Dr Yuliana Topazly, Board member, European EdTech Alliance

London EdTech Week

Among the week’s flagship events was The Redefining Learning Forum Parliamentary Reception which focused on Securing the Research and Evidence Base for Driving the EdTech Sector.

The event was hosted by Tristan Osborne MP and delivered by DOHE, EdTech Hub in partnership with techUK, Weypoint, and Policy Connect. A particularly important contribution as a part of the initiative came from researchers at the Open University, who presented findings from a Delphi study conducted in spring 2026 as part of the series. While the findings were focused on the UK market, many of the challenges and opportunities identified resonate across Europe.

1. Greater central coordination. The UK EdTech sector does not lack innovation; it lacks coherent system-level coordination: the conditions that allow innovation to be trusted, adopted, scaled and exported.

2. Stronger research and evidence. The absence of evaluation literacy, shared evaluation frameworks and accessible evidence repositories is undermining decision-making across procurement, policy and pedagogy.

3. Building on the UK’s EdTech strengths. Advancing the EdTech Testbeds Programme and the EdTech Evidence Board would operationalise a powerful feedback loop, from research to practice to innovation, generating trusted evidence in both classroom and flexible distance learning settings.

If anyone is interested in further research and take part in the future Redefining Learning Forum meetings, please contact Dr Yuliana Topazly, E: y.topazly@dohegroup.com

It was also great to reconnect with EEA members while in London across many events including the GETN convening.

Join our Summer Open Listening Sessions

This summer, the EdTech Policy Lab is hosting two open listening sessions exploring how to design meaningful dialogue between public authorities and the education innovation ecosystem. Bringing together public and private sector perspectives, the sessions will showcase practical examples of collaboration and contribute to the ongoing development of the EdTech Policy Lab Playbook on Effective Dialogue Spaces.

🇨🇭 🇩🇪 10 August 2026 | 13:30–14:30 CET | In German

Our next session features Educa, Switzerland’s national agency for digital transformation in education, and GovTech Deutschland, Germany’s network for public sector innovation and digital government. Speakers will share their experiences of building effective dialogue and collaboration between public authorities and education innovators. Register here

🇧🇪 🇸🇪 2 September 2026 | 10:00–11:00 CET | In English

Our fourth Open Listening Session brings together representatives from Swedish EdTech Industry, SALAR (the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions), the Belgian EdTech Association, and the Flemish Ministry of Education. Speakers will share practical experiences from their respective dialogue and collaboration formats and discuss how these can strengthen partnerships between governments and the education innovation ecosystem. Register here

Both sessions will be held online and are free to attend. Participants are welcome to ask questions throughout via the chat, which will be moderated and incorporated into the discussion where appropriate. Recordings of previous sessions are made available via YouTube.

EdTech Austria explores the digital backlash

What is really behind the growing criticism of digital technologies in education? Our member EdTech Austria has published two new interviews on the digital backlash, looking at when criticism is justified and when a nuanced debate turns into a general rejection of digital learning.

Jannie Jeppesen, Swedish Edtech Industry and EEA, reflects on why the backlash may be seen as a phase of disillusionment, and why evidence, quality and the conscious use of technology matter more than ever. Christian Orgler, founder of Ohana, shares an EdTech company perspective on responsibility, transparency and how digital tools can meaningfully support families. Both articles can be found here (in German)

Invitation from Edtech Denmark: Socrates 2.0 - build a AI tutor on published learning science. Co-hosted with Sorbonne Université Webinar 16 July or 22 July · 13:00–14:00 CEST · Online · Free · In English A live, hands-on webinar for university teachers and teaching-centre staff. Sign up: Form

🇬🇧 UK Policy Update

New guidance, support and policy documents for education providers on the use of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in education have been published following the detailed review. The UK Department for Education has also just published its 2026 assessment of the EdTech market in England and launched first of its kind guidance on creating dedicated teaching and support spaces for children with Special Educational Needs.

According to Michael Forshaw from EdTech Impact, some of the key take-aways from the report give “a rare, data-driven view of how staff and pupils interact with different categories of edtech in everyday use.” Most schools don’t have this visibility yet. The report illustrates why that matters:

💸 EdTech tools are often purchased without knowledge of whether a similar tool is already being used, leading to duplication and wasted spend.

🏫 Schools can hold active contracts for tools with low usage - the licence gap between what’s been paid for and what’s used can be significant.

⏱️ Session intensity varies significantly across tool types - yet most schools have no way of knowing how their EdTech is actually being used day to day, making it impossible to act on.

🇫🇷 France: 11 Recommendations to Shape the Future of AI in French Education

The French Digital and AI Council has recently published a report on the use of AI in education entitled "Coming Out of the Shadows: Harnessing AI to Drive a New Vision for the Education System."

The first part of the report presents key findings on the use of AI in the French education system. The report highlights that AI is already used by a majority of students, with 90% of high school students reporting that they use AI tools. However, only 3% of French teachers say they regularly use AI with their students, while 16% use it occasionally and 76% do not use AI in their teaching at all. According to the OECD's TALIS 2024 survey, French teachers use AI one-third less than the OECD average. Furthermore, only 8% of French teachers have received training on AI, compared with an OECD average of 38%.

The report also stresses the importance of technological sovereignty in the face of competition from the United States and Asia, highlighting the risks of technological dependence. It further emphasizes the need to support public procurement in order to foster the growth of French and European AI and EdTech companies.

The second part of the report sets out guiding principles for integrating AI into the French education system. These include combining learning with and without AI, training teachers both on AI and through AI, providing high-quality AI-powered educational tools, and creating a sustainable market for educational technology (EdTech). The final part of the report outlines 11 recommendations.

The results of this report is a opportunity for European companies specialized in AI to develop their market in France. Nevertheless, the French market is quite difficult for the moment with a reduction in public spending and subsidies in the education sector.

🇪🇪 🇳🇴 🇩🇰 🇫🇮 Nordic/Baltics: AI in schools: ban, restrict or teach?

In the Nordics and Baltics we are seeing two very different rhetoric approaches to AI in schools. Norway‘s Prime Minister imposes a near-ban on generative AI for younger pupils and cautious, teacher-led use for older students. Estonia, by contrast, is investing in national AI literacy and AI tools in schools, through its AI Leap initiative, helping teachers and students use AI critically and purposefully. Denmark is also moving strategically, with the newly formed government´s declaration promising a national strategy for AI in education and stronger technology understanding in schools.

Denmark stands out with a clear ambition addressing digital sovereignty, and wants to support solutions rooted in Danish and European education traditions.

🇪🇺 It´s out: New Framework Puts AI Literacy on the Education Agenda

The AI Literacy framework by the OECD and the European Commission builds on internationally recognised principles and frameworks, including the OECD AI Principles, UNESCO’s AI competency frameworks, UNICEF’s policy guidance on AI for children, EU digital education policy and the EU AI Act. Its focus is on a human-centred, ethical, inclusive and responsible approach to AI in education.

Although non-binding, the framework is likely to become an important reference point. It will probably inspire national AI strategies and future curriculum development, especially as it is also linked to the upcoming PISA 2029 Media and AI Literacy assessment.

Discover our Edtech Maps

We bring together comprehensive information about funding opportunities, EdTech organisations, testing environments, funders, accelerators, and policy development.

Edtech Map: this interactive visual guide features over 1,700 European edtech organisations. Use it to find technology partners, analyse the market, or connect with your local ecosystem. 🔗 Enjoy or get on the Map!
Funding Map: 🔗 Find funding opportunities
Policy Map: a guide for making education more innovation-ready, helping policymakers and institutions build trust, skills and funding so responsible Edtech can scale across Europe. 🔗 Discover the Policy Roadmap

📚Resources for Summer Reading

Report: State of Play European Edtech and the Edtech Ecosystem 2026
Checklist: Internationalisation for European Edtechs
Report: Needs based Edtech Evidence Mapping
Download now: 🔗 Visibility Checklist - helping any EdTech organisation understand their Identity core, their systemic foundation and their operational processes.

Evidence demands increases- time to structure your evidence portfolio

As the already mentioned DfE Edtech Market report describes a pragmatic market correction in the wake of the digital backlash: schools are using edtech widely and the sector reports growth, but buyers have become more discerning and are asking harder questions about evidence, impact, cybersecurity, planning, staff confidence and value for money. It says effective and consistent use is still uneven, and that the rapid uptake of GenAI intensifies these challenges.

Why evidence in EdTech is more complicated than it looks

Evidence in EdTech is not just about whether a tool “works”. Its value depends on context: pedagogy, implementation, teacher use, data safety, accessibility and scalability.

Different stakeholders need different evidence. A usability pilot is not the same as proof of learning impact. A compliance certificate is not the same as ethical assurance. Product data does not automatically show educational value.

For edtech companies, the key is clarity: be precise about what your evidence shows, what it does not show, and who it is useful for. In a maturing market, trust will depend less on bold claims and more on honest, proportionate and well-explained evidence.

Good for you, we have structured the complexities to guide you in your work, in our report: Needs-based Edtech Evidence Mapping

Save the Date!

🇳🇴 Nordic EdTech Summit 2026 | 9 September | Oslo, Norway
This year, and for the first time in Norway, join 250 senior EdTech leaders for a focused, high-level gathering exploring how to build and scale sustainable, impactful EdTech. Register here

🇪🇸 ECTEL | 14-18 September | Valencia, Spain

The European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (ECTEL) engages researchers, practitioners, educational developers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and policy makers. Register here

🇸🇪 Learning Conference (L&D)| 16-17 September |Stockholm, Sweden

Learning Conference is the Nordic meeting place for future competence, learning, leadership and transformation and brings together leaders, decision-makers, HR, L&D, researchers, innovative companies and transformational leaders to explore how organisations can evolve, adapt and remain competitive in a world of constant change. Register here

🇳🇱 Dutch Edtech Summit 2026 | 1 October | Amsterdam, Netherlands

A focused afternoon for 120 leaders across the Dutch EdTech ecosystem — founders, policymakers, investors, and education institutions — coming together for substantive conversation and deliberate connection and the launch of the State of Dutch EdTech Ecosystem 2026 report. Find out more here

🇦🇹 Edtech Austria Summit 2026 | 7 October | Hallein, Austria

Collaboration, edtech organisations and educational professionals. Free of charge, in German. Register here.

🇺🇦 Digital Innovation in Education 2026 | 27 October | Kyiv, Ukraine

EdTech Ukraine Association will host Digital Innovation in Education 2026 — the main educational technology event of the year. The conference will bring together representatives of government, business, international organisations, and leading EdTech companies. Keep updated here

🇬🇧 QS Reimagine Education 2026 | 7-8 December| London, UK

The global forum for higher education and edtech innovators. Register here

🇪🇸 Edtech Congress Barcelona 2027 | 3-4 February | Barcelona, Spain

🇮🇹 Learning More Festival 2027 | 26-28 February | Modena, Italy

Check out our members’ newsletters

This newsletter is written and produced by the European Edtech Alliance. The European Edtech Alliance is a consortium of national trade associations and clusters working with founders and providers of education technology (EdTech), to support the domestic and international growth of these businesses and the innovations they represent. European EdTech News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

After the US AI ban: Is Europe building real EdTech sovereignty?

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 05:42:37 GMT

We are entering that very European time of year when the rhythm starts to shift. The Nordics are already heading into summer holidays, and then it moves south before we all are back at full speed again in early September.

But the questions shaping European EdTech are not taking a break. Neither is geopolitics.

Across Europe, sovereignty is becoming the defining policy word of the moment. This became painfully evident last week when the US Government banned Anthropics Mythos model for all foreign nationals. Access to AI, cloud infrastructure, data and digital tools is closely tied to competitiveness, resilience and democratic capacity. Europe will need skills, AI literacy and broad digital competence if we want to take part in shaping the future.

At the same time, we need to be precise about what sovereignty means. In the name of sovereignty, we see a growing tendency among public actors to build their own solutions. Sometimes that may be necessary. But if “sovereignty” is interpreted that way, it risks to disturb a healthy, competitive market and Europe risks weakening the very ecosystem it needs to strengthen.

True sovereignty is not about everyone building their own. It is about Europe having solutions that can scale, compete and be chosen because they are trusted, high-quality and sought after.

That is why fair competition, effective procurement and healthy market conditions is important. Education systems need to become sharper buyers of European solutions, and creating space for responsible innovation to grow. That is how we get competitive and sovereign.

In this issue, we look at several developments through that lens: AI literacy becoming measurable, tech sovereignty moving into cloud and open source, and an important French ruling on fair competition in our sector. Together, they point to a bigger question: how do we build EdTech from and for Europe, in a way that strengthens both education and competitiveness?

So before the European summer fully takes over, enjoy the read. And yes, we will be back in your inbox in July too.

Jannie Jeppesen
Chair, European EdTech Alliance

Ukraine’s Edtech momentum: partnership as growth strategy

Last week at EdTech & Partnerships: How Collaboration Creates New Opportunities for Growth in Kyiv, EdTech Ukraine brought together founders, education institutions, local authorities, universities, accelerators and ecosystem builders on the topic: collaboration creates value no organisation can achieve alone.

Jannie Jeppesen, Chair of the European EdTech Alliance, shared insights on EEA’s role, Ukraine’s growing importance in the European EdTech landscape, and the need for deeper international cooperation. The event also explored funding, consortium-building and practical routes into international partnerships, with a clear reminder that Ukrainian organisations should not underestimate the value they bring.

The day also marked a new milestone: the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between EdTech Ukraine Association and the EdTech Center of Excellence, strengthening links between the innovation ecosystem and public institutions.

Photographer Illia Chervonyashiy

Open Listening Sessions

As part of the EdTech Policy Lab, a series of open listening sessions has been launched to collect practical insights on how meaningful dialogue between public and private actors in education can be designed. The sessions focus on real-world practice: How dialogue or collaboration is organised, what challenges need to be overcome, and what enables dialogue to move beyond exchange towards actual impact, resulting in a Playbook.

Two sessions have already taken place, featuring contributions from the Edutech Cluster in Spain and the EdTech Coalition Hungary, as well as the Helsinki Education Hub and various org. in the Netherlands. While the dialogue formats differed in how they work, speakers highlighted similar challenges, for example, the lack of structured mechanisms to communicate system needs to innovators or the importance of clear goals and continuity in pursuing them. At the same time, participants emphasised how valuable it was to learn from each other’s approaches. Recordings of all sessions will be made available via YouTube.

🇪🇺 EU Tech Sovereignty Package: open source and cloud given a key role

The European Commission has presented a new Package for European Tech Sovereignty, highlighting open source and cloud solutions as central building blocks in reducing dependence on non-European technology providers. strengthening competitiveness, security and innovation. 🔗 Read more

The Open Source Strategy, aimed at scaling EU-based open source solutions covers AI, cloud and cybersecurity. This will matter for edtech procurement, interoperability, public digital infrastructure and the “build vs buy” debate.

🧠 AI Literacy in Education is becoming measurable and therefore political

Within a few weeks OECD and the European Commission launches The AI Literacy framework for primary and secondary education. It defines the knowledge, skills and attitudes learners need to understand and interact with AI confidently and critically, and it feeds into the PISA 2029 Media and AI Literacy assessment.

Once AI literacy is measured internationally, countries will have to explain what they are doing, or not doing, to prepare students.

🇪🇺 EU news in short

Erasmus+ 2028-2034
The Council has officially agreed its position on the Erasmus+ Programme for 2028–2034.
Digital education competence frameworks are being revised for the AI era
The European Commission has started updating the European Digital Competence Framework for Educators, to reflect the rapid changes now affecting education. While this was published slightly earlier in May, it remains a relevant signal this week because the updated AI ethics guidance now sits in the same wider shift: educator competence frameworks are being reworked for a more AI-mediated education environment.

Discover our Edtech Maps

We bring together comprehensive information about funding opportunities, EdTech organisations, testing environments, funders, accelerators, and policy development.

Edtech Map: this interactive visual guide features over 1,700 European edtech organisations. Use it to find technology partners, analyse the market, or connect with your local ecosystem. 🔗 Enjoy or get on the Map!
Funding Map: 🔗 Find funding opportunities
Policy Map: a guide for making education more innovation-ready, helping policymakers and institutions build trust, skills and funding so responsible Edtech can scale across Europe. 🔗 Discover the Policy Roadmap

📚Resources for Summer Reading

Report: State of Play European Edtech and the Edtech Ecosystem 2026
Checklist: Internationalisation for European Edtechs
Report: Needs based Edtech Evidence Mapping
Download now: 🔗 Visibility Checklist - helping any EdTech organisation understand their Identity core, their systemic foundation and their operational processes.

Connect with ILT Education: Scaling EdTech Across Europe

At ILT Education, we have spent years navigating the complexities of different educational systems as we expanded from a Sweden-only company into a multinational edtech platform across Finland, Norway, Germany, France, the UK and the US. Along the way, we’ve learned and seen a lot. A key finding is that many great ideas out there struggle to fly, as the eco-system is so complicated, fragmented and requires a financial and mental endurance that not everybody has. It is very clear that success is not defined by how great your product or technology is but by the effectiveness of your sales and marketing machinery.

We have also seen the opposite; how collaboration and leveraging the strengths of others leads to success. We have welcomed many smaller companies into ILT Education across Europe through acquisitions, and have seen how that has unlocked growth potential. There are a number of key areas where our contribution has made a difference, mainly:

Sales scale-up. Once you have the customers, it is easier to bring in new products. You are a trusted partner with teachers and schools
Professionalism. Things that a small startup does not have time to focus on, a large partner can bring in. This could be SaaS metrics reporting, impact reporting, AI-supported customer care, leadership, improved infrastructure and global network of expertise to draw upon.
Cross border. Being an international player, we have successfully taken products across borders. This is the biggest challenge for a newcomer, our scale and local knowledge allows us to do this with relevant products, although not all.
Innovation thrives when the original impact-driven vision of the founders is protected and fueled with resources, rather than diluted.

At the same time, it is important to respect the strong differences between countries. What works in one classroom requires deep pedagogical and system understanding to succeed in another country’s environment.

Building a collaborative ecosystem together

We believe that the future of European edtech lies in building a strong, interconnected network of partners, where consolidation is required. By sharing insights, research, and operational expertise, we can collectively elevate educational practices for millions of students. And we are committed to doing this under ILT Education’s umbrella. We are therefore eager to engage in knowledge exchange with entrepreneurs who would like to continue their journey alongside us.

Please get in touch for a digital coffee with us to see how your business could grow as part of the ILT Education family.

Jakob Skogholm, CEO - jakob.skogholm@ilteducation.com

Alexandra Blomberg, CCO - alexandra.blomberg@ilteducation.com

One small step for GEA, a giant leap for Global Edtech Collaboration

On 2nd June, the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances (GEAoA) held its first Members Meet-Up, bringing together founding members from across the world to connect, share collaboration opportunities, and explore how the Alliance can create real value for EdTech ecosystems globally. It was a great opportunity to gather ideas, and better understand the opportunities, challenges, and areas where collaboration could make the biggest difference. As the current Secretariat team, EEA is supporting the Board and Founding Members as we work to set up and grow the Alliance. Following the meet-up, we’ll turn our attention to operationalising these ideas, and continue building the Alliance to reflect the needs and priorities of the global community.

Follow the Global EdTech Alliance on LinkedIn here

On Fair Competition: Important ruling in France

We know that digitalisation often leads municipalities and regions to consider “building their own” solutions. Our prediction is that AI development will increase this pressure, as will the growing demand for digital sovereignty. But sovereignty should not mean public bodies crowding out European SME:s. It should mean better procurement, interoperability and standards.

A recent ruling in France is therefore worth noting. The Paris region, Île-de-France, has been ordered by the court to remove “free*” digital learning materials made available through the Pearltrees platform, as this was found to violate freedom of enterprise. The materials must be taken down by September.

* There is no such thing as a free lunch. Read our position paper on the shortcomings and risks of Open Educational Resources (OER).

Now launched: EdTech Logic Model Builder

The EdTech Evidence Board at Chartered College of Teaching has launched a free online tool, EdTech Logic Model Builder, to help edtech organisations create a tailored logic model for their product. The tool guides users step by step and produces a one-page downloadable visual, supporting the sector’s work to raise evidence standards.

The resource page also includes written guidance and a short explainer video on logic models.

Sweden: When national AI guidance is missing, the sector steps up

In the absence of national policy or a clear strategy for AI in education, 18 major organisations, including agencies, trade unions and sector organisations, have joined forces to launch AI for School Organisers. The free interim tool supports Swedish school organisers in navigating AI-related questions around law, ethics, competence and responsibility, sending a clear message about the void and the need for action.

Save the Date!

🇬🇧 London Edtech Week | 15-19 June | London, UK

London EdTech Week returns 15–19 June 2026, bringing together 1,500+ global attendees for a week-long, community-led celebration of the EdTech ecosystem in London. Across five days, the programme features conferences with leading voices, hackathons driving innovation, curated networking dinners, start-up summits, and awards recognising the best in education technology. Register here.

🇸🇪 Learning Conference (L&D)| 16-17 September |Stockholm, Sweden

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If Education is at the Heart of Competitiveness, what is EdTech's role?

European EdTech Alliance — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:55:10 GMT

This month, the European Commission called together a high-level EdTech dialogue meeting, emphasising their commitment to strengthening EdTech cooperations and acting more strategically and stressing the fact that Education is at the heart of European competitiveness. At the same time, this month, we see one of the longest standing independent European EdTech testbeds, Swedish Edtest, closing its doors.

During the European Commission meeting, Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen stated that “education is the cornerstone of Europe’s success”. In fact, across Europe education is no longer seen only as a social policy domain, but rather as a strategic foundation for digital sovereignty, economic resilience and democratic stability. Expectations of EdTech are rising accordingly: from supporting skills development to strengthening Europe’s capacity to act independently and ensure sovereignty in a rapidly shifting global landscape.

Yet the structures needed to support, evaluate and scale EdTech across Europe aren’t sustainably in place. There is no shared definition of what constitutes EdTech, data is not reliably comparable across Member States, there are limited sustainable testing and trialling environments, and there are no clearly defined exchange and dialogue structures ensuring governance and strategy models for digital education are built on the strengths of the whole ecosystem, and not just following a top-down approach.

As Executive Vice President Roxana Minzatu stated: “The risk of not doing anything is huge”. It will need continued structured, nuanced, and balanced dialogue between all partners so that what gets done meaningfully contributes to the Education ecosystem. We are committed to furthering these discussions.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

High-Level European Commission EdTech Dialogue

The European EdTech Alliance participated in the High-Level European EdTech Dialogue convened by the European Commission, bringing together industry representatives with Executive Vice Presidents Roxana Mînzatu and Henna Virkkunen.

The discussion positioned EdTech within a broader European agenda around competitiveness, digital sovereignty and the future of education. A strong emphasis was placed on the role of education in shaping Europe’s long-term resilience, and on the importance of engaging the EdTech sector as a strategic partner in this process. The dialogue also provides input to the Commission’s upcoming Education Package and wider work on digital education towards 2030.

A key issue raised by the EEA was the absence of a shared definition of EdTech across Member States. This fragmentation limits the development of a functioning Single Market, constrains cross-border scaling, and weakens the quality of data used for policy, funding and investment decisions. The EEA also emphasised that barriers to growth extend well beyond company formation. For EdTech, scaling depends on access to sustained R&D pathways, research partnerships, testing and validation environments, clearer evidence expectations, and structured cooperation between public and private actors.

The Alliance proposed several areas for further action, including support for definitional work, EU-wide reporting mechanisms, research on EdTech impact at scale, governance sandboxes, and structured dialogue models across Member States.

Photos courtesy of the European Commission

UNESCO Global Education Coalition

The EEA is a proud member of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition and the Digital Transformation Collaborative. At the Annual Meeting last month, discussions reinforced a clear message: progress towards more inclusive, equitable and future-ready education systems will depend on sustained collaboration across governments, international organisations, academia, civil society and industry. Taking place at a moment when global actors are beginning to look beyond 2030, the meeting highlighted that no single actor can drive this transformation alone; system change requires coordination, shared priorities and structures for meaningful public-private cooperation.

Several developments reflected this direction. The newly launched Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances was presented as a mechanism for more structured international collaboration, while UNICEF opened the final feedback round on Version 2.0 of its EdTech for Good Framework, signalling growing demand for clearer global reference points on quality and evidence. Across sessions, there was a strong emphasis on aligning digital transformation with country priorities, strengthening governance and public ownership, and ensuring that teachers are engaged as active contributors to implementation and change.

Photos courtesy of Cyril Bailleul, UNESCO

Strengthening dialogue across the German education ecosystem to drive the digital transformation

On 14 April 2026, stakeholders from education, policy, administration, and industry came together in Hanau, Germany, for an EdTech Policy Lab dialogue led by the EEA and hosted by the Heraeus Bildungsstiftung.

The session focused on how dialogue spaces in Germany can move beyond exchange to actually drive digital transformation. While many formats already exist, participants explored in detail what is currently missing to make them effective, looking also at international models for inspiration. The insights will feed into a practical playbook on designing impactful, sustainable dialogue structures that better connect stakeholders and support real decision-making as part of the EdTech Policy Lab project in Germany. Read more about the policy lab here.

SETT

The Nordic Track at the SETT conference in Stockholm highlighted the urgent need for digital resilience in education, focusing on equipping young people to navigate digital spaces, counter disinformation, and use AI responsibly. Speakers, including Ivo Visak from Estonia’s AI Leap initiative, stressed teacher professional development and exposed a leadership gap, with limited national guidance on legal and ethical frameworks. As responsibility shifts to municipalities and school leaders, and with students adopting AI faster than adults, it is clear that digital resilience is now a core task for education systems seeking to protect learning, democracy, and equal opportunity in an AI-driven world.

AI Learn Project Launch

The European EdTech Alliance has joined AI LEARN, a major Research Council of Norway-funded initiative bringing together 35 partners across academia, industry and the public sector to explore how AI can be developed and implemented in ways that align with human values and societal needs. Launched at its kick-off meeting in Bergen (10-11 March 2026), the project focuses on human-AI interaction, governance, and capacity building, with a strong emphasis on participatory approaches to ensure that AI is integrated into education and wider society in a responsible, inclusive and human-centred way. Find out more here!

🇪🇺 EU Inc.: Simplifying Startup Formation

The European Commission’s EU Inc. proposal aims to reduce legal fragmentation and make it easier to start and scale companies across the Single Market. Proposed measures include fast-track digital company formation, standardised templates, more flexible share structures, and improved ESOP taxation. 🔗 Read more

While these changes address long-standing friction at the point of company creation, key challenges for sectors such as EdTech remain further downstream, including fragmented procurement systems, regulatory differences, access to funding, and alignment around trust and evidence. The extent to which EU Inc. enables scaling will depend on how these broader ecosystem constraints are addressed.

📱 EU Age Verification App: Strengthening Online Protection Frameworks

The European Commission has introduced a new age verification app aimed at supporting the enforcement of rules designed to protect minors online. The initiative is part of a broader effort to operationalise requirements under the Digital Services Act and strengthen safeguards around access to age-restricted content.

For EdTech and digital service providers, this signals increasing expectations around age assurance, user verification and child protection mechanisms, particularly as regulatory focus shifts from principles to implementation. 🔗 Read more

🤖 AI Act: Delays and Implementation Adjustments

Recent developments indicate adjustments to the timeline and implementation approach of the EU AI Act, reflecting the complexity of operationalising its requirements across Member States and sectors.

While the overall regulatory direction remains unchanged, these delays highlight ongoing challenges around readiness, guidance and enforcement capacity. For EdTech providers, this reinforces the need to monitor evolving timelines closely and continue preparing for compliance, particularly in areas such as high-risk classification, transparency and governance. 🔗 Read more

📚EU Guidelines on Digital Education Content and Ethical AI

The European Commission has published the Guidelines on Making Informed Choices on Digital Education Content, designed to support teachers and educators in evaluating digital tools. Dedicated webinars on this will be offered by the European Commission. The EEA contributed to the development of the guidelines through Beth Havinga (EEA), Pierre Laborde (AFINEF) and Albena Spasova (EdTech Bulgaria) as members of the expert group.
The European Commission has updated their guidelines on the ethical use of artificial intelligence and data in teaching and learning.

Visibility Learning Lab: Core

🗓️ 27. May
⏱️ 9am - 13:00pm Central European Time
📍 Online

The EEA has launched the Visibility Learning Lab (VLL), a programme for EdTech founders and communication leads focused on aligning pedagogical and market-facing communication.

The first cohort has completed its core session, developing structured approaches to organisational storytelling and practical tools to strengthen consistency and credibility. The programme now continues with a Design Clinic phase offering targeted 1:1 support. Applications are open for the next cohort starting 27 May.

European EdTech Fellowship - Applications open next week!

Applications for the European EdTech Fellowship 2026 cohort open 20 April 2026. Built on the foundations of the Female EdTech Fellowship, this new programme expands the lens and goes deeper into the forces that determine whether EdTech actually works in the real world. Not just how to build a company, but how to navigate the procurement cycles, trust frameworks, regulatory landscapes, and deeply localised dynamics that define education systems across Europe.

Over six months — June through December 2026 — Fellows will work through a curated, intensive curriculum covering everything from stakeholder mapping and evidence-based innovation to digital sovereignty, public tender readiness, sustainability and cross-border scaling.
Register your interest and get first access to the application!

Needs-Based Evidence Mapping Dialogue Templates

As part of its Needs-Based Evidence Mapping report, the EEA has introduced tools to support evidence translation across stakeholders with differing needs and perspectives. These include a dialogue template with structured prompts to clarify the purpose, origin, and meaning of evidence, and a mapping tool to identify how evidence is used, by whom, and where misalignment may occur. Stakeholders across the ecosystem are invited to explore and apply these templates and share feedback to support further refinement.

Launch of the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances

The Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances had it’s constitutional meeting during UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition with representatives from over 50 countries present. Designed as a global collaborative platform connecting alliances of education innovation ecosystems from around the world, the Alliance’s objective is to strengthen collaboration between established and emerging ecosystems, share knowledge, and co-develop initiatives that support sustainable, inclusive digital education systems. Read more about the launch here.

We are grateful for the support of UNESCO who has given the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances a home at the Global Education Coalition. Follow the Global EdTech Alliance on LinkedIn here

Creating resources that help you - complete the survey!

The European EdTech Alliance Working Group on Data and Privacy is gathering input from EdTech founders and teams on:

how AI and data are being used in products today
where compliance is unclear or difficult
what support would actually make a difference

Our goal is to build resources for EdTech founders and developers that are grounded in real needs. Take 5 minutes and share your perspective here.

Swedish Edtest closes it doors- resources available

Swedish Edtest opens up its methodology and resources for teachers and EdTech companies as they close their platform. The work will inform the quality portfolio for edtech that Swedish Edtech is developing. Find the resources from Edtest (In Swedish) here.

Technology Readiness Council - Strategic Partner

We are delighted to welcome Technology Readiness Council (TRC) as a strategic partner of the European EdTech Alliance. TRC brings a strong focus on the intersection of education, technology, and policy, particularly in areas such as AI governance and responsible innovation in schools. Their work aligns closely with the EEA’s mission to support a more connected and forward-thinking EdTech ecosystem.

Is Sweden Really Giving Up on Digital Learning?

A growing narrative portraying EdTech as harmful is gaining traction, often driven by simplified claims and sensational headlines that risk shaping policy discussions without a full understanding of the context or ecosystem realities.

As Jonathan Viner reports, however, Sweden hasn’t “given up” on digital learning or EdTech. Although the narrative is politically compelling, the evidence behind it is far more ambiguous and is actually related to a shift of policy led by a right-wing coalition interpreting PISA scores out of context and conflating general screen-related distraction with educational technology use. Read more here!

EEA Weekly TLDR

Make sure you check out the EEA LinkedIn page each Friday for our TLDR summary of what’s moving in European EdTech that week!

Save the Date!

🇬🇧 London Edtech Week | 15-19 June | London, UK

Check out our members’ newsletters

Why more EdTech evidence is not solving the problem

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 08:02:59 GMT

Across Europe, there is no shortage of calls for “evidence-based EdTech”. Ministries ask for it. Investors refer to it. Schools expect it. Companies are increasingly required to demonstrate it.

Yet there is far less agreement on what ‘evidence’ actually means — and what it is meant to inform. Whilst different partners require certain types of evidence, the relevance of this for key stakeholder groups remains questionable.

In practice, educators, founders, policymakers and investors often rely on different types of evidence, produced under different constraints, and interpreted through different institutional logics. But when these differences remain implicit, they generate friction, mistrust and misplaced expectations.

Evidence is normally produced for a specific purpose or decision. Because of the significant resources and time that go into establishing evidence, it is often reused beyond its original context and purpose. As evidence travels across different actors and settings, its intended scope can become blurred which can lead to misinterpretation or expectations it was never designed to meet.

Rather than calling for more evidence, we must first clarify what kinds of evidence are needed, by whom, and for which decisions. This includes supporting educators, decision-makers, and EdTech developers so that evidence can be interpreted appropriately and used within the context for which it is relevant.

As the European Commission prepares to publish its guidelines on making informed choices about digital education content, we contribute to this broader policy moment with an examination of how evidence is interpreted, reused and translated across the EdTech ecosystem.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

Needs-Based Evidence Mapping for EdTech

REPORT LAUNCH

The world of EdTech evaluation and evidence is complex and the Needs-Based EdTech Evidence Mapping report provides a practical framework for clarifying what evidence is needed, by whom, and for which decisions across the EdTech ecosystem.

Built around a five-domain model, the report organises evidence according to purpose rather than methodological hierarchy. Instead of asking whether a product “has evidence”, the framework asks: which decisions does this evidence meaningfully inform — and which does it not?

The report argues for a shift from a narrow focus on “proof of impact” toward a broader culture of “proof of trust”: evidence that is credible, context-sensitive, explainable and socially responsible. Impact evidence remains important, but on its own it cannot address questions of pedagogical fit, usability, equity, safety, implementation feasibility or long-term sustainability.

The Needs-Based Evidence Mapping does not introduce a new evaluation scheme or compliance mechanism, nor does it impose a single notion of rigour. Rather, it functions as a translation device, exploring how educators, companies, policymakers and investors rely on different forms of evidence shaped by distinct institutional constraints and incentives.

Grounded in extensive ecosystem research and multi-stakeholder dialogue, the report introduces five evidence domains; Learning Impact & Effectiveness; Experience, Usability & Pedagogical Fit; Safety, Ethics & Data Governance; Equity, Accessibility & Inclusion; and Scalability, Implementation & Sustainability; and includes practical reflection templates and dialogue tools to support structured conversations between evidence producers and evidence users.

By providing a shared interpretive language and concrete resources for application, the framework helps reduce friction, clarify expectations, and support more credible and transparent evidence portfolios in complex decision contexts.

Read the full report here!

Our thanks goes to the Jacobs Foundation for their generous support throughout the EdTech Strategy Lab project.

The European Commission will be publishing the Guidelines “Making informed choices on digital education content: EU guidelines for teachers and educators” later today. Make sure to watch out for the announcement as the launch aligns with the first anniversary of the Union of Skills on 5 March, highlighting the political priority placed on strengthening digital skills and supporting informed classroom implementation. Additional EU language versions are expected in May, with a dedicated dissemination webinar planned for April to introduce communication materials and support uptake across Member States.

The EEA together with our members AFINEF and EdTech Bulgaria are proud to have been part of this important work.

🗓️ 31st of March
⏱️ 9am - 13:30pm Central European Time
📍 Online

Visibility Learning Lab: Core

Your story deserves to be supported by a strong communication system.

The Visibility Learning Lab is an intensive, expert-led program designed to help EdTech founders, leaders and teams clarify their identity, refine their narrative, and build the strategic foundations of a a professional, scalable, and credible communication system.

This four hour session will help you move from conceptual storytelling to technical execution. By the end of the session, participants will master the strategic insights to grow your communications and product development and build a foundation for efficient branding, a robust communication strategy, and compelling storytelling. In this Learning Lab, you will acquire the technical knowledge for setting up identity guidelines, essential assets, and effective management and measurement of communication channels.

The Visibility Learning Lab: Core is designed to remain accessible to the European EdTech community while delivering high-value, expert-led support. Special pricing is offered for Members of EEA members. Find out more and register here

The European EdTech Fellowship Family is Growing!

We’ve closed the applications for Growth and Early Stage of the Female EdTech Fellowship! Selected founders will soon embark on an intensive program spanning product development, investor readiness, strategic growth and scalable impact.
Thank you to all of those amazing founders who applied and joined the FEF community!

We are also taking this moment to look ahead - In May 2026, we will launch a new, standalone fellowship, open to founders of all genders, designed to bring additional depth, explore the digital sovereignty, internationalization and cross-sector collaboration to the European EdTech space.

If you are building in European EdTech, we encourage you to register your interest for the upcoming, first cohort.

From Dialogue to Governance

🗓️ 23rd of March
⏱️ 9am - 4pm Central European Time
UNESCO HQ Paris

On 23 March at UNESCO HQ in Paris, the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances will hold its founding meeting to formally adopt its charter and establish its first board and management structures.

Hosted by UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition, the full-day workshop will bring together alliances and EdTech leaders from across regions to define shared priorities and coordination mechanisms.
🌐 Register here

New Member: EdTech Romania

Romania’s EdTech ecosystem has been gaining impressive momentum this past year. With EdTech Romania joining our community, we strengthen our collective voice in Central and Eastern Europe and expand opportunities for cross-border collaboration. EdTech Romania brings local expertise, community insight, and regional energy that will enrich our shared mission of shaping the future of learning in Europe.

Open Call: Apply to Join the Learning Cabinet

Applications are open for the Learning Cabinet, a UNICEF-led initiative that helps identify high-quality EdTech solutions ready to support education systems around the world. Applying is free.

Through the Learning Cabinet evaluation process, solutions receive structured expert review covering areas such as learning impact, safety, and readiness to scale. The process also encourages providers to share evidence of their product’s impact on learning.

As part of the evaluation and listing processes, selected solutions can start building an evidence portfolio within the Cabinet, making evidence of learning outcomes visible to governments and education system leaders. For many providers, this becomes an important step in strengthening their credibility and demonstrating how their product contributes to real learning outcomes.

If your solution is already used by schools and you are preparing to scale to new markets, especially in the Global South, we encourage you to apply here!

Learning More Festival, Italy

The fourth edition of Future Education Modena’s Learning More Festival concluded on 22 February in Modena, reaffirming its position as Italy’s leading event at the intersection of learning science, educational technology and human capital development.

The festival recorded over 9,500 registrations and 7,000+ in-person participants across 100+ sold-out events, bringing together 150+ Italian and international speakers. The programme covered neuroscience of learning, AI in education, learning organisations, EdTech validation, equity and family engagement, alongside a new strand on Medical Humanities.

The EdTech track featured startups from Edtech Italia pitching to investors and schools, and hosted the third European meeting of the Global EdTech Testbed Network (GETN), convening validation experts from across Europe.

With 4.2 million online impressions and a confirmed fifth edition in 2027, the festival continues to strengthen its role as a reference point for evidence-informed dialogue on learning and technology.

Save the Date!

🇫🇷 UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition | 23-24 March | Paris, France
The Global Education Coalition annual meeting brings together UNESCO Member States, Coalition members, and education stakeholders to reflect on progress, priorities, and partnerships for advancing the digital transformation of education. Taking place at a critical moment for achieving SDG 4, the meeting provides a high-level space to examine how collective action can translate vision into measurable impact. Register here

🇸🇪 SETT | 14 – 15 April 2026 | Stockholm, Sweden
By bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners, we create an environment where conversations about education and innovation can take place. Together, we are building on strong foundations to meet the demands of the future. Register here

Check out our members’ newsletters

Finding a Common Direction for European EdTech Innovation

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 08:13:15 GMT

We are starting 2026 against a fundamentally changing international political landscape. Discussions on European digital sovereignty are gaining urgency, while public debate continues to conflate EdTech with other digital technologies, including social media, in ways that obscure important distinctions about purpose, governance and impact.

At a moment when global dynamics appear increasingly and unimaginably fragmented, it becomes more important than ever to have a unified and clear direction forward. Creating meaningful learning and teaching environments requires deliberate choices about infrastructure, governance, evidence, and values - particularly if we are serious about safeguarding agency and upholding European democratic principles.

Building on three years of research and validation, we are launching the European EdTech Policy Map, derived from our report, The European EdTech Ecosystem Roadmap. The interactive map translates the roadmap into actionable policy directions, highlighting what is required to build sustainable, trusted and innovation-driven ecosystems across Europe.

There is much to be done this year, and we’re looking forward to being on that journey with you.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

European EdTech Policy Map

The EdTech Policy Map sets out a structured framework for strengthening how education innovation is developed, adopted, and governed across Europe.

Organised around five interlinked goals, the Roadmap examines:

where the European EdTech ecosystem is currently constrained,
which enablers and blockers shape decision-making and implementation, and
which existing initiatives and practices are already moving in the right direction.

For each goal area, the Roadmap combines policy-oriented recommendations with concrete examples drawn from across Europe, highlighting how evidence, governance, funding, skills, and knowledge exchange can be better aligned with educational purpose and European values.

The Policy Map can be accessed as an interactive policy mapping tool.

Applications for the 2026 cohorts are now open!

Registrations are now open for the Female EdTech Fellowships — Early Stage and Growth Stage. The fellowship brings together women who are:

building or scaling EdTech solutions,
navigating growth, impact, governance, or funding challenges,
and doing this work in complex, real-world education systems.

Make sure to apply by 28. February!

Female EdTech Growth Stage Fellowship

This 6-month fellowship is designed to support and empower EdTech founders to accelerate the impact of their business. If you’re a founder looking to connect with a community, learn from experts, share best practices and industry knowledge, this fellowship is for you! It will connect you to a supportive network, provide access to leading industry experts, and offer tailored learning to help you grow your EdTech company.

Apply to the growth stage fellowship here!

Female EdTech Early Stage Fellowship

The Early Stage track is designed for aspiring female entrepreneurs ready to transform their EdTech ideas into viable startups. This 4-week online programme offers mentorship, practical learning, and a supportive community to help you navigate the initial phases of your entrepreneurial journey. You’ll gain insights into the European EdTech market as a whole, market research, product development, fundraising, sales, and go-to-market strategies, all tailored to the unique challenges of early-stage founders.

Apply to the early stage fellowship here!

Join us for the founding meeting of the Alliance!

🗓️ 23rd of March
⏱️ 9am - 4pm Central European Time
UNESCO HQ Paris
Register here

Hosted by UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition, the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances is looking forward to conducting a full day workshop bringing together alliances, partners and EdTech leaders from all over the world to showcase successes, discuss common challenges, and define potential outputs and goals for the Alliance.

In the last session of the day, the Global Alliance will officially define its initial charter and choose its first board and management structures.
🌐 Read more about the alliance and explore our founding supporters here

EEA at the BETT Show London 2026

The EEA participated in the inaugural BETT Ministerial Conference, contributing to high-level discussions on equity, inclusion and system resilience in a shifting global context.

Beth Havinga, representing the EEA, moderated two Arena stage panels: one on preparing learners for an AI-driven workforce (with representatives from Canada, Tajikistan, the USA and Mexico), and one on strengthening EdTech evaluation and translating policy into trusted implementation (with the Council of Europe, UNICEF and the Chartered College of Teaching). Both discussions centred on a shared challenge: moving from strategy to operational practice.

For the third consecutive year, the EEA co-hosted the Celebrating Women in EdTech networking event with the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), continuing to support visibility and leadership across the ecosystem.

Throughout the week, the EEA supported a German ministry delegation in targeted exchanges with member associations, engaged in discussions around the launch of the Africa EdTech Exchange, and contributed to sessions including the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances panel on founder resilience hosted by DOHE. The EEA also participated in panels and networking sessions at the Italian Embassy in London, reinforcing cross-national dialogue on trusted and sustainable EdTech ecosystems.

It was valuable to connect with members, partners and policymakers throughout the week.

EdTech Policy Lab

As part of our continued work with the EdTech Policy Lab Project, the EEA supported the opening event of the project in Berlin. This saw key representatives from the public and private sector coming together for an interactive afternoon of inspiration, discussions and workshops with the goal of defining new dialogue spaces. Context Keynotes from the European Commission, the French Ministry of National Education and Educa (Switzerland) saw collaboration with EdTech companies framed as one of the most important strategic partnerships to foster and ensure innovation.

Data Governance in Practice - Working Group Webinar

As part of a new EEA Data Privacy and Protection Working Group webinar series, we examined emerging approaches to data governance in EdTech, with contributions from Mariana Rozo-Paz (Datasphere Initiative) and Ayça Atabey (University of Edinburgh, RAD Lab / Digital Futures for Children).

The session explored child-rights audits of generative AI tools, highlighting the gap that can exist between policy commitments and operational practice, and underscored the growing relevance of independent audit methodologies. It also addressed structured youth participation models and the increasing role of regulatory and innovation sandboxes — particularly in light of the EU AI Act’s requirement for Member State AI sandboxes.

🌐 Full summary available on our website.

Save the Date!

🇮🇹 Learning More Festival | February 20-22 | Modena, Italy
The fourth edition of the first festival dedicated to training, learning, and human capital development is here. Find out more here.

🇨🇭 bitmark Hackathon 2026 | March 5–6 | Zürich, Switzerland or online
From Prompt to Product: Join a 24-hour AI innovation challenge to create the next generation of open-source editors. Join now

🇫🇷 UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition | 23-24 March | Paris, France
The Global Education Coalition annual meeting brings together UNESCO Member States, Coalition members, and education stakeholders to reflect on progress, priorities, and partnerships for advancing the digital transformation of education. Taking place at a critical moment for achieving SDG 4, the meeting provides a high-level space to examine how collective action can translate vision into measurable impact. Register here

Check out our members’ newsletters

Wrapping up 2025

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:18:49 GMT

2025 has been a pivotal year for European EdTech. From reshaping how the ecosystem maps itself, to elevating the policy conversation, to reconnecting in person at events from Sofia to Strasbourg — the work has been wide-reaching, collaborative, and grounded in shared purpose.

As the European EdTech Alliance, we’ve focused not just on visibility, but on credibility, capacity, and community. The result? A stronger foundation, and a clearer path forward into an exciting 2026.

Read on for a quick look at some of the actions that made this year so eventful for us. We wish all of you peace and joy during this holiday period.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

🚀 We Launched:

The Global Edtech Alliance of Alliances: a new community for EdTech Alliances and Associations from around the world working together to develop ecosystem sustainability, share vital experience and knowledge, and promote collaborative initiatives grounded in evidence and equity. Missed the launch? Check out the video and report here.

The EdTech Funding Database: As part of our map environment and with the generous support of the Jacobs Foundation, we launched a European funding database. With automatically updated opportunities for funding and targeted search possibilities helping you to understand funding applicability. We look forward to expanding this database into more global regions in 2026.

The European EdTech Map: Technically a relaunch, we have seen hundreds of new companies joining our re-designed European EdTech Map, which now features easier searching, verified companies, and an easier interface for finding partners, ideas and Edtech Organisations. Not on the map yet? Make sure to fill in the short survey and be part of the European EdTech Map.

The EdTech Learning Labs:
In response to many requests for community learning opportunities, the EEA Learning Labs were launched and provide immersive, expert-led programs built for professionals and innovators navigating the evolving landscape of education, technology, and workforce development. Each Lab offers a focused experience combining research-based insights, real-world case studies, peer collaboration and experts’ views to tackle urgent, high-impact challenges in EdTech. Register your interest for next year’s labs today!

An Early Stage Female EdTech Fellowship:
The Early Stage fellowship track was designed and launched to support aspiring female entrepreneurs ready to transform their EdTech ideas into viable startups. This 4-week online programme offers mentorship, practical learning, and a supportive community to help you navigate the initial phases of your entrepreneurial journey. We loved meeting our first cohort and are excited to have you as part of our fellowship community. We have three different fellowships opening up for early 2026 - Make sure to get your application in on time and become a fellow!

The EdTech Policy Lab:
As a project of the Forum Bildung Digitalisierung together with the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Vodafone Stiftung Germany as well as the Heraeus Bildungsstiftung, the EEA are excited to be part of the work building a network of key stakeholders to promote sustainable cooperation structures. The goal of the project is to strengthen the potential of collaboration through cooperative, transparent interaction. In structured dialogue formats, representatives from ministries, authorities, and EdTech associations discuss topics related to procurement, awarding, quality assurance, and digital infrastructure. Find out more about the project here >

👀 Coming in 2026:

The European EdTech Policy Map: Building on our yearly policy roadmap reports, we have created an interactive way of navigating key policy needs and submitting your own suggestions for solutions.

📚 We Published:

The European EdTech Startup Ecosystem:
A summary overview of the European EdTech Ecosystem to highlight how the EdTech sector, home to over 7,800 companies and 400,000 employees, represents one of Europe’s greatest untapped competitive advantages.
Building Trust in EdTech: Exploring evidence-based approaches:
Over 12 months, the EEA brought together diverse stakeholders, from educators and developers to policymakers and researchers, for an open and collaborative discussion about the critical role of trust, evidence, and alliances in the EdTech ecosystem. The final report summarising the responses of participants and our research.
The European EdTech Ecosystem Roadmap Report:
As part of the EmpowerED project, the EEA has released a report identifying key barriers to digital innovation within Europe’s education sectors. The report offers example solutions to building a cohesive, well-supported, and thriving EdTech ecosystem in Europe. This is part 1 of the roadmap.

👀 Coming in 2026:

The Needs-Based EdTech Evidence Map:
Continuing our work of the EdTech Strategy Lab Project, this report explores what counts as evidence, how evidence is understood and used throughout the ecosystem, what evidence needs exist, and suggest a more coherent evidence ecosystem.
The Final European EdTech Ecosystem Roadmap: Towards Excellence in Educational Innovation
The next instalment in best practice policy ideas and implementations and a roadmap for what we need to do to become a sustainable innovation ecosystem. This report was produced as part of the EmpowerED project.
Year 3 State of Play of EdTech & the EdTech Ecosystem in Europe:
A snapshot of key activities, themes driving change and action within Europe, challenges and hurdles to innovation, and successful enablers. This report was produced as part of the EmpowerED project.

📚 We contributed to shaping conversations and expanding the EdTech network at:

Nordic EdTech Summit – Malmö
Konferenz Bildung Digitalisierung – Berlin
EIT EdTech Conference – Brussels
Digital Stakeholder Workshops on Digital Education Content - Brussels
TEKLA Visit- Helsinki
Council of Europe AI & Education Working Conference – Strasbourg
All-Ukrainian Conference – Kyiv
Educa Fachtagung– Bern
Female EdTech Fellowship Retreats – Paris
Global Edtech Testbed Network - Malmö
EmpowerED EdTech in Finland - Helsinki
Sustainability Learning Lab – Sofia
Launch event of the AoA - Online
Global Education Coalition – Paris
Digital Learning Week – Paris
Empowering the European EdTech Ecosystem Summit - Sofia

See you in 2026!

🇬🇧 BETT Show | 21-23 January 2026 | London, UK.
Bett UK is back for 2026 with 35,000+ trailblazers from across the globe and over 3,000 bright young minds, 400+ world-class speakers and the energy of our global education community - Registration is open!

🇪🇸 EdTech Congress Barcelona | 4-5 February 2026 | Barcelona, ES.
Join the largest EdTech event in Spain with over 2000 attendees. Registration is generously free for EEA members - Find out more here!

Check out our members’ newsletters

Europe’s Digital Sovereignty Has an Education Blind Spot

European EdTech Alliance — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 10:05:46 GMT

Across Brussels and beyond this month, one phrase echoed through every discussion on Europe’s digital future: digital sovereignty. It was invoked in speeches about AI, skills, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy.

EdTech may not yet rival fintech or biotech in market size, but its reach can be far greater. It touches nearly every European family, every classroom, and every learner. If Europe is serious about sovereignty, about who controls our data, our platforms, and the values shaping young minds, if we truly want European grown and sustained technologies, then EdTech must officially be part of the strategies.

Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director for Innovation, Digital Education and International Cooperation at the European Commission, in her speeches both at the Empowering the EdTech Ecosystem event in Bulgaria, and the EIT EdTech Event in Brussels this month, called for solutions that are human-centred, values-based, and pedagogically sound. However, she also acknowledged the fragility of Europe’s position: fragmented markets, low private investment, and persistent mistrust between innovators and institutions.

That fragility and fragmented nature of the European ecosystem can be seen, for example, in current decisions around AI use and related skills development. On the one hand, this month we have seen both Iceland and Greece joining Estonia with having a country-wide AI adoption in education (to differing degrees). On the other hand, in Sweden, the government’s proposed reforms seemingly remove digital competence development for teachers and indeed any mention of digital competence as a core educational mission. This has implications for over two million students, effectively dismantling previous digital education strategies. This move, which is widely criticised by educators, researchers, and industry, contradicts EU and Nordic trends, risks deepening social inequality, and undermines Sweden’s long-term competitiveness, employability, and democratic resilience.

Europe’s “independence moment” will come from enabling and scaling home-grown EdTech solutions built on openness, trust, and inclusion. But it also depends on a unified understanding of how Europe wants to respond to new technologies, like AI, and how we want to ensure our learners and societies are adequately prepared. Until then, digital sovereignty will remain an aspiration, not a reality.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

Congratulations to The New EEA General Board

The European EdTech Alliance is delighted to announce the election of our new General Board members following our Annual General Meeting.

Please join us in congratulating:
Nataliya Limonova, EdTech Ukraine Association 🇺🇦
Alicia Berlanga, Edutech Cluster 🇪🇸
Dr. Yuliana Topazly (Seymour) MBE, DOHE 🇬🇧
Jitske van Os, Dutch Edtech 🇳🇱
Iris E. Gisladottir,Samtök menntatæknifyrirtækja - IEI 🇮🇸
Agnė Diana Liubertaitė, PhD, EdTech Lithuania 🇱🇹
Félix López Capel, SEK Lab EdTech Accelerator 🇪🇸
Thomas Van Cauwenberghe, edtechstation 🇧🇪

They join our continuing Inner Board Members, Jannie Jeppesen (Swedish Edtech Industry), Tobias Himmerich (EDUvation) and Flora Retfalvi, PhD (EduTech Hungary). As we move forward, actively supporting the EdTech ecosystem will remain a central focus of our work, ensuring that the EEA continues to be a vibrant, collaborative, and impactful community working to support innovation throughout Europe.

Our gratitude goes to the General Board members leaving us this year for their dedication, insight, and the lasting impact they’ve made on the EEA’s growth and direction. We extend our heartfelt thanks to: Donatella Solda, (Edtech Italia) and Albena Spasova, (EdTech Bulgaria)

Join Us For The Official Launch of the Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances!

🗓️ Monday 10th of November
⏱️ 4 - 5pm Central European Time
👉 Sign up to the launch event here

Join our speakers, Borhene Chakroun (UNESCO), Frank van Cappelle (UNICEF), Milja Laakso (UNICEF), Aditya Gupta (India Didactics Association), Carolina Duer (Fundación CEIBAL), Ernest Gavor (Ghana Society for Education Technology), Jennifer Cotter Otieno (EdTech East Africa) and the Alliance’s, Tom Poole and Beth Havinga to explore the rationale behind the Alliance and how will it support EdTech ecosystems across the world.

With the Alliance already representing 100 countries globally, we are excited to hear from our supporters in Latin America, Africa and Asia about how they envisage their role and how the Alliance can empower the work they are doing to support EdTech innovation.

🌐 Read more about the alliance and explore our founding supporters here

First In-Person Learning Lab in Sofia, Bulgaria

The first EEA in-person Learning Lab took place last week in Sofia, bringing together innovators, educators, and founders from across Europe for an inspiring day of dialogue and exchange. From fireside conversations on the female founder journey to creating through discussion on sustainability in EdTech to hands-on collaboration on the future of learning, the Lab showcased the power of community and shared expertise in shaping Europe’s EdTech landscape.

We want to thank our speakers – Michał Kruszyński, founder @Planet-A, Emilia Kruszewska, founder @RecruitHer, Farida Danmieri, founder @Learning Connected and Mihaela Kawinska.

Designed as immersive, expert-led programmes, the EEA Learning Labs equip professionals and policymakers to navigate the intersection of education, technology, and workforce transformation.

Be part of the next Lab and join the community driving innovation in European EdTech — learn more and sign up here.

Winners of the EmpowerED Innovators Pitch held at the Learning Lab in Sofia.

Empowering European EdTech Summit

The Empowering European EdTech and Erasmus+ Summit hosted by EdTech Bulgaria on 4 November 2025 in Sofia set out a clear ambition: EdTech from and for Europe. The message was that Europe must not simply adopt global platforms, but build its own ecosystem aligned with its values of human rights, democracy and trust. What is needed is coordination, shared language, and spaces where policy, research, practice, and innovation meet on equal terms.

Organised jointly by the EmpowerED project, the Bulgarian National Erasmus+ Agency, and EdTech Bulgaria, the event gathered actors actively shaping European EdTech alongside those steering Bulgaria’s digital transformation. Participants included representatives from the European Commission’s DG CNECT and DG EAC, the European EdTech Alliance, and a range of EmpowerED partners from across Europe. High-level Bulgarian participation reinforced the national relevance, with contributions from the Minister of Education, the President of the Union of Bulgarian Teachers, and the Head of the Erasmus+ National Agency.

The aim of the forum was to bring policy, technology, and practice closer together to discuss the direction of Europe’s educational transformation.

Read about key insights collected during the event here.

Images © EdTech Bulgaria

Council Of Europe - Third Working Conference on AI and Education

The Council of Europe’s recent Working Conference on AI and Education in Strasbourg marked a pivotal moment in shaping how Europe governs technology in classrooms. Bringing together policymakers, researchers, students, and EdTech actors, it advanced a human-rights-anchored approach to AI — one that values regulation, evidence, and participatory dialogue equally. From redefining AI literacy as a matter of democracy and equity to calling for safeguards before AI enters schools, the discussions underscored a clear message: trust, transparency, and human agency must guide innovation.

Read more here →

Image © Council of Europe

Ukraine Celebrates Innovation & One Year of National Collaboration

The EdTech Ukraine Association marked its first anniversary during the All-Ukrainian Conference on Digital Innovation in Education 2025, gathering over 700 participants from across the country. With the support of Academy DTEK, the event featured discussions on AI, state–private partnerships, and showcased Ukraine’s most innovative EdTech solutions. The conference also launched the first national EdTech Awards and the EdTech Mapping Initiative, strengthening Ukraine’s position on the global EdTech map.

Read the full story here!

Dutch EdTech Summit 2025

The Dutch EdTech Summit 2025 showcased a thriving national ecosystem united around one goal: turning innovation into impact. Hosted at Codam College in Amsterdam, the event brought together educators, founders, and policymakers to explore evidence-based experimentation, AI literacy, and cross-sector collaboration. Highlights included discussions on building a national EdTech testbed, the GESAwards regional semifinals, and the launch of the State of the Dutch EdTech Ecosystem Report 2025. The message was clear—responsible, human-centred innovation and stronger bridges between education, science, and policy are key to the Netherlands’ EdTech future.

Find further insights from the summit here →

Image © Dutch EdTech

EIT EdTech Conference

The EIT EdTech Conference 2025 in Brussels brought together leaders from the European Commission, OECD, EIT Community, and across the European EdTech ecosystem to reimagine the future of learning through a distinctly European lens.

Inspiring discussions centred on the responsible use of AI, the role of ethics in digital education, and the urgent need for sustainable public–private collaboration. As Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva reminded participants, Europe’s digital sovereignty depends on who controls the platforms shaping young minds.

Representing the European EdTech Alliance, Jannie Jeppesen and Jitske van Os contributed powerful insights on the importance of transparent business models, funded collaboration between science, schools, and startups, and the shared responsibility required to strengthen Europe’s innovation ecosystem. Michelle DuQuette, Beth Havinga, and Tobias Himmerich highlighted key initiatives that the EEA is driving and presented some fundamental facts about the European EdTech Innovation Ecosystem.

The takeaway: Europe’s leadership in digital education will depend not on the power of its tools, but on how purposefully, inclusively, and collaboratively we use them.

Image © EIT

EmpowerED Celebratory Final Event

Last week marked a milestone for Europe’s digital education community as the EmpowerED project concluded at the Empowering European EdTech and Erasmus+ Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria. As Agueda Gras-Velazquez, Michelle DuQuette, Christina Makarona, and Beth Havinga highlighted during panels and keynotes, EmpowerED has been a collective journey — one defined by shared learning, open dialogue, and a vision for #BetterLearning across Europe.

A final EmpowerED workshop brought together insights from diverse stakeholder perspectives about the 5 key goal areas identified during the development of the Roadmap Report to be published by the end of 2025:

While the project formally closes this year, the work continues. The commitment to strengthening the European EdTech community and amplifying its voice remains stronger than ever.

Calling All EdTech Companies: Share Your Evidence Practices

We want to hear from you! Help us understand how EdTech organisations currently use evidence and evaluation in their work by participating in this Evidence Survey for EdTech Companies. It’s quick (6 minutes), anonymous, and your insights will directly inform EEA’s advocacy, programming, and support for evidence-informed innovation!

Voices of the EEA

🇧🇬 Bulgaria — Europe’s Bridge to Educational Innovation

Bulgaria is emerging as one of Europe’s most dynamic hubs for digital education and EdTech collaboration. Through EdTech Bulgaria, the national contact point of the European EdTech Alliance (EEA), the country is pioneering a new model of partnership that unites government, academia, and industry to co-create the future of learning.

A landmark initiative, the Empowering European EdTech and Erasmus+ Summit in Sofia, symbolised this new approach. Co-organised by EdTech Bulgaria and the National Erasmus+ Agency (Human Resource Development Centre) under the patronage of the Ministry of Education, it marked one of the first times a public institution and an innovation network joined forces to shape shared digital education policies. Bulgaria also leads several major projects, including TechWell, focusing on digital wellbeing in schools, and EdTech Innovators, fostering young entrepreneurship.

As Albena Spasova, Co-Founder of EdTech Bulgaria and EEA Board Member, noted:

“This is the beginning of a collective movement. Bulgaria is becoming Europe’s bridge to a new era of learning where technology serves people, and knowledge connects us all.”

Investment Highlights

Lingokids, headquartered in Madrid, is making waves. The B2C company focuses on teaching English to children and boasts more than 185 million users worldwide. It recently raised $120 million (led by GP Bullhound and General Catalyst) — a figure that outpaces the total investment into Spanish EdTechs last year.

Save the Date!

🇵🇱 TRC European Summit 2025| 1-2 December | Warsaw, Poland
The Technology Readiness Council (TRC) will host the TRC European Summit 2025 on 1–2 December at the American School of Warsaw. The two-day event will bring together educators, school leaders, and EdTech professionals to explore practical strategies and visionary ideas around AI integration, data privacy, digital leadership, and sustainable innovation. Find out more information here!

🇬🇧 EdTech Congress Barcelona | 4-5 February 2026 | Barcelona, ES.
Join the largest EdTech event in Spain with over 2000 attendees. Registration is generously free for EEA members - Find out more here!

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EdTech Innovation: Speed Meets Responsibility

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 08:37:25 GMT

In her 2025 State of the Union address, EU Commission President von der Leyen put innovation and startups where they belong: at the heart of Europe’s competitiveness agenda.

With promises of a Scaleup Europe Fund, a 28th regime of unified rules, new AI gigafactories, and a “fifth freedom” of knowledge and innovation, Europe is signalling that innovators are no longer an afterthought, but the engine of sovereignty and growth. This is echoed in the current surge in EdTech investment across Europe, which has seen Swedish AI learning platform Sana emerge as Europe’s next EdTech Unicorn having been acquired by Workday for $1.1B.

Momentum is building, but bold funding and policy announcements must be matched with trust. UNICEF’s new policy recommendations on EdTech data governance are a timely reminder that growth without responsibility is fragile. This is a chance for the EdTech community to demonstrate leadership, showing that growth and integrity are not competing goals, but the foundation of a sustainable innovation ecosystem.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

Last Call: AI Learning Lab — This Friday

Seats are almost gone for the AI Learning Lab (4 October), the EEA’s flagship deep dive into how to use AI is reshaping education. Join leading experts and peers to unpack AI regulation, embed ethical AI design, and get procurement-ready — with practical tools you can use immediately.

Don’t miss this chance to learn from amazing speakers and connect with innovators across Europe. Take advantage of the special discount for members of EEA members.

👉 Purchase your ticket now — limited places left
🔗 Learn more about the Learning Labs

Female EdTech Fellowship

When women founders come together with openness, trust, and shared purpose, the impact extends far beyond their own ventures.

The Female EdTech Fellowship Retreat this month brought together our 7th cohort of inspiring leaders from across Europe — refining strategies, scaling impact, and supporting one another on the journey of building both companies and a more inclusive future for EdTech.

📖 Find out more about our fellows and read the highlights here

Empowering European EdTech Summit - Speakers announced

3- 4 November 2025 | Grand Hotel Millennium, Sofia, Bulgaria

On 3–4 November in Sofia, the Empowering European EdTech Summit brings together over 150 bold thinkers at the intersection of education, policy, and innovation. Expect a stellar lineup of keynote speakers, policy roundtables, and success stories from EdTech leaders — all converging to define Europe’s path forward in digital learning, sovereignty, and sustainability. Don’t miss your chance to gain actionable insights and connect with leading voices from across the ecosystem.

Organised by EdTech Bulgaria with the support of the Human Resource Development Centre (Bulgaria’s national Erasmus+ agency), the EmpowerED project, and the European Edtech Alliance.

View the full programme and register here

PLUS Day One Spotlight: EdTech Learning Lab
On 3 November at 15:00, we kick off with a dedicated Learning Lab for women founders, combining expert-led sessions, hands-on exercises, and collaborative problem solving. It’s a space to explore AI in EdTech, define ethical innovation, and co-create new solutions — all in a community of peers,

Make sure to secure your spot here

The Global EdTech Alliance of Alliances (AoA) continues to gather momentum - we have now spoken to over 20 different alliances from around the world, and have Expressions of Interest from alliances and associations that cover over 50 countries in total. Our initial mission of creating a unified global voice for EdTech remains central, whilst we also have a crucial supporting role of the AoA, which is to support developing ecosystems around the world to formalise their work at a local level, which in turn will allow them to benefit even better from the AoA’s work.

Watch out for some big announcements in the coming weeks and find out more, including ways to engage as an alliance or association, here.

EmpowerED: Collaboration in Action Webinar

What does it take to build real collaboration between educators, policymakers, startups, researchers, and ministries? On 29 October from 12:00pm - 1:30pm, the EmpowerED consortium invites you to join us in sharing lessons, debating gaps, and defining the next steps for Europe’s EdTech roadmap to consider what actions are needed at both EU and national levels.

This interactive session will dive into enabling factors, barriers, and cultural considerations for creating meaningful spaces of exchange among educators, policymakers, EdTech companies, researchers, and other stakeholders.

Register here

Calling All EdTech Companies: Share Your Evidence Practices

EIT EdTech25 Conference — 30 October, Brussels

The EIT EdTech25 Conference returns this month, and the EEA is proud to support by showcasing innovations and best practices from across Europe. Building on its 2024 debut, the event gathers startups, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders to strengthen connections, share insights, and shape Europe’s digital education agenda.

The EEA will host a dedicated session on “EdTech Innovations: Learning from Europe’s Success Stories,” lead two Co-Labs, and be present in the demo zone. You’ll also see EEA members featured throughout the programme — including our chairwoman Jannie, board member Thomas (EdTech Station), and Jitske (Dutch EdTech).

🔗 Explore the agenda and register here →

Power Up - and the EdTech Policy Lab

This month, Beth Havinga joined key stakeholders from the German education landscape at the Power Up Conference in Berlin to discuss the role of EdTech Companies in the digital transformation of the school system. Together the panelists explored what is holding the ecosystem back from more targeted and productive dialogue and joint action.

We are excited to announce the launch of The EdTech Policy Lab, a joint initiative of Forum Bildung Digitalisierung, the EEA, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland, and Heraeus Bildungsstiftung. This project aims to strengthen collaboration between policymakers, administrations, and the EdTech sector to unlock the potential of digital innovations in schools. Through structured dialogues on responsibility, quality assurance, and digital infrastructure, the Lab is building sustainable models for effective, trust-based cooperation.

Find out more about the project here >

Images courtesy of Forum Bildung Digitalisierung and © Phil Dera

EEA at the Kick-Off of Helsinki Education Hub

The Helsinki Education Hub launched its Autumn 2025 incubation programme on 15 September, with ten international EdTech founders joining. The EEA is proud to contribute through our Designing for Impact module, led by researcher Anna Lindroos Cermakova, which helps startups integrate evidence and Theory of Change into product design from the very start. By embedding evaluation into innovation, the programme equips founders to build solutions that are both scalable and impactful.

📖 Read the full story: EEA at the Kick-Off at Helsinki Education Hub

TAICO Consortium Meeting in Krems

The EEA team is in Krems, Austria this week for the second consortium meeting of the TAICo project, a three-year EU funded project addressing how to ethically and effectively integrate AI into educational settings to complement and enhance the teaching profession.

The project started earlier in 2025 and we’re looking forward to continuing to support the other academic partners in co-design, knowledge exchange and policymaker engagement formats. Learn more about TAICo here >

Voices of the EEA

🇩🇰 EdTech Denmark

Last month’s EEA Member Insights Call, moderated by Kurt Nielsen (EdTech Denmark), explored a bold proposal: an EdTech Credits for Sustainability (ECS) system. The idea is to reward European EdTech providers, infrastructure services, and public buyers with credits when they choose European solutions. These credits could then be exchanged for EU funding, discounts, or access to testbeds and sandboxes.

The discussion centred on how such a system could boost Europe’s digital sovereignty, support sustainable procurement, and reduce reliance on non-European tech giants—while also asking members to reflect on potential benefits, challenges, and pitfalls if ECS were introduced tomorrow. Let us know: how might such a system reshape the way Europe builds and sustains its digital education future?

Investment Highlights

European EdTech Investment is on the rise with large funding rounds and another EdTech Unicorn!

LingoKids (Madrid, Spain), raised $120 M
London based, MyEdSpace raises $15 M
Sdui (Germany) raised $ 95 Mil
Swedish AI learning platform, Sana has been acquired by workday for $1.1 B

Save the Date!

🌐 The Learning + Work Festival 2025 | Online
Brighteye are hosting their annual, online startup Festival next week, on Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 October. There will be one pre-Festival Session to give you an update on Brighteye, followed by 6 online Sessions exploring operational areas to consider when building your startup. All free to attend, full details and links to register.

🇫🇷 Council of Europe: 3rd Working Conference on AIED | 8 - 9 October | Strasbourg, France
The event will launch the Compass for AI and Education, a new policy tool to guide the integration of AI in education in line with democratic values and the right to quality education. Find more information here >

🇳🇱 Dutch EdTech Summit 2025 | 10 October | Amsterdam
Cutting-edge insights on the future of EdTech, the launch of the third State of the Dutch EdTech Ecosystem Report, and the regional finals of the GESAwards await you in Amsterdam as part of this year’s summit. Register here!

🇺🇦 All-Ukrainian Conference on Educational and Technological Innovations | Oct 22 | UNIT City, Kyiv
EdTech Ukraine is celebrating the first anniversary of its association with a landmark event: the All-Ukrainian Conference on Educational and Technological Innovations. The event will bring together leading voices from government, business, and international organizations to showcase Ukraine’s innovative EdTech potential. Find more information and registration details here.

🇧🇪 EIT EdTech Conference | 30 October | Brussels, Belgium
The EIT EdTech Conference overarching goal is to support the European EdTech ecosystem and contribute to make EdTech the next European success story. The EEA will contribute to the design and development of the one-day conference. Register your interest to attend here >

🇬🇧 BETT Show | 21-23 January | London, UK.
Bett UK is back for 2026 with 35,000+ trailblazers from across the globe and over 3,000 bright young minds, 400+ world-class speakers and the energy of our global education community - Registration is open!

Check out our members’ newsletters

Between Promise and Pragmatism

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 12:01:38 GMT

Between Promise and Pragmatism

Each September, the start of the European academic year invites reflection on the direction of digital education in Europe. This year’s UNESCO Digital Learning Week, themed "AI and the Future of Education: Disruptions, Dilemmas and Directions" has offered both alignment and friction, ambition and hesitation.

Governments presented a broad range of priorities: from the UK’s significant investment in EdTech validation to evolving national curricula and teacher training systems. But beyond the policies, deeper tensions surfaced. Some academics raised sharp critiques: from algorithmic bias and hallucinations to concerns over outsourcing pedagogy to commercial platforms. Their focus was less on rejecting technology, and more on safeguarding civic trust and pedagogical agency.

Philosopher Bayo Akomolafe challenged the dominant mindset, urging us to “abandon the illusion of control” and act not as designers of learning systems, but as embedded participants in complex, evolving ecosystems.

And while much of the narrative focused on systems and strategies, an underlying human reality surfaced repeatedly: many teachers are concerned. Not about AI as a concept, but its implications for their relevance, role, and autonomy in the learning process.

In contrast, the OECD provided a more grounded take, outlining consistent themes emerging across countries: the need for socio-emotional relevance, human-in-the-loop design, and a shift from outputs to measurable impact.

What was missing, notably, was a strong EdTech presence in the room. Absent from most of the panels, the sector was not positioned as a partner in shaping the future, but too often as a passive recipient of regulation or suspicion.

As Akomolafe concluded: "The time for snorkeling with oxygen tanks is over. We need to become fishes." It’s a call to go deeper, beyond adoption cycles and pilot programs, into a long-term, relational, evidence-based, and collaborative approach to digital education in Europe.

Donatella Solda
Board member, European EdTech Alliance

The European EdTech Map has relaunched!

This month, the European EdTech Alliance relaunched the European EdTech Map. The map is Europe’s most comprehensive public directory of EdTech organisations. With more than 1,600 organisations already listed, the new platform has been rebuilt to make it easier for organisations to be found, connected, and supported across the continent.

The redesigned Map introduces:

A simpler 5-minute onboarding process
Improved navigation and smarter filters
Verified profiles to strengthen trust and credibility
Integrated access to additional resources, including funding and investment tools

This initiative is part of EmpowerED, a project funded by the European Union.

The EdTech Funding Database is now Unlocked for Everyone

With the relaunch of the European EdTech Map, the EdTech Funding Database is now unlocked and open to everyone.

This curated, growing resource brings together grants and public funding opportunities from across Europe to support EdTech organisations of all sizes. Previously available only to mapped organisations, the database is now a public tool for the entire ecosystem.

Use it to:

Discover funding opportunities for your organisation
Save time with curated, regularly updated listings
Support the community by submitting new opportunities from your region

👉 Submit a funding opportunity!

This resource is made possible through the generous support of the Jacobs Foundation, and it will continue to grow with input from across the community.

Early Bird Registration for the AI Learning Lab Ends 12 September

As AI reshapes education, the AI Learning Lab by the European EdTech Alliance is your opportunity to stay informed. This two-day, online program (October 3-4) equips EdTech founders, product managers, and education innovators with the practical knowledge and tools to:

Navigate the EU AI Act with confidence
Embed ethical AI design principles
Prepare for procurement and tenders
Map the policy landscape

Early Bird Offer – Secure Your Spot Before 12 September - Seats are limited and we encourage you to take that opportunity and join this leading initiative.

🔗 Learn more about the Learning Labs
👉 Sign up for AI Learning Lab

Empowering European EdTech Summit - Join us in Sofia!

4 November 2025 | Grand Hotel Millennium, Sofia, Bulgaria

View the full programme and register here

The Empowering European EdTech Summit will bring together over 150 innovators, educators, policymakers, and investors from across Europe for a one-day event focused on the future of education technology on the continent.

Present outcomes and insights from the EmpowerED project
Highlight strategies to align national and European EdTech efforts
Facilitate cross-sector dialogue between practitioners, policymakers, and funders

This event also marks the closing chapter of the EU-funded EmpowerED initiative, supported by DG CNECT, and will serve as a space for reflecting on lessons learned, sharing tools and research, and identifying priorities for future collaboration.

“I click therefore I am” - Educa25

Educa’s annual symposium this year took on the challenges of how to both define ourselves in the digital world and understand the effects that digital identities can have within education.

In her plenary discussion, Beth Havinga explored what makes up a digital identity, some of the initiatives globally that are seeking to capture this information, and security measures necessary to ensure not only safety and adherence to ethics, but also the fundamental rights of children are not being exploited.

Images courtesy of Educa and Roman Bruegger

Help shape the future of EdTech policy

As part of the EmpowerED Project, the European Edtech Alliance is preparing a final policy report to be shared with decision-makers across Europe. This report will address some of the biggest structural challenges facing the EdTech sector today:

Funding gaps
Fragmented procurement systems
Limited access to real-world testbeds
Lack of reliable and transparent data

Your insights are essential — these quick surveys give you a direct channel to influence future EU-level policy and support frameworks.

📝 5-minute survey on funding realities
🔍 4-minute survey on testing and evaluation
📦 3-minute survey on procurement and scaling

And if you missed it, read our latest post on why a common definition of EdTech is so important!

🇫🇮 Member Spotlight: EdTech Finland

Finland continues to position itself as a hub for ethical, research-driven EdTech. With deep roots in pedagogy and public trust, the national ecosystem combines a strong startup culture with world-renowned education values.

Highlights:

A clear commitment to evidence-based design and ethical AI
Close collaboration between EdTech developers and teachers
Strong public frameworks supporting innovation, testing and export

“Finnish EdTech must lead by aligning AI-powered innovation with pedagogical purpose. True impact comes not from scale alone, but from trust, in teachers, in research, and in the ethical use of technology.”
Dr. Federico Malpica Basurto, CEO of Sinapsia Group Finland & Board Member, EdTech Finland

Ecosystem Opportunities

NextEdu 2025: Call now open

Applications are now open for the third edition of NextEdu, the European acceleration programme for EdTech startups, developed by xEdu, Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT and OGR Torino. The programme supports 10 startups with high-impact, pedagogically grounded solutions to join an intensive 4-month programme hosted at OGR Tech in Torino, including coaching, mentoring, bootcamps, and global visibility.

📅 Deadline: 22 September 2025 | Apply directly here

Save the Date!

🇸🇪 Nordic EdTech Summit | 10 September | Malmö, Sweden
Bringing together educators, entrepreneurs, and policymakers from across the region to explore the future of learning, innovation, and impact in Nordic education. Register here >

🇩🇪 Konferenz Bildung Digitalisierung | 24 - 25 September | Berlin, Germany
Organised by Forum Bildung Digitalisierung, KonfBD25 brings together stakeholders from education, policy, and civil society across DACH to discuss digital transformation in schools. Topics include digital sovereignty, democratic education, personalised learning, and governance. Register here >

🇺🇦 All-Ukrainian Conference on Educational and Technological Innovations | Oct 22 | UNIT City, Kyiv
EdTech Ukraine is celebrating the first anniversary of its association with a landmark event: the All-Ukrainian Conference on Educational and Technological Innovations. The event will bring together leading voices from government, business, and international organizations to showcase Ukraine’s innovative EdTech potential. Find more information and registration details here.

Check out our members’ newsletters

European EdTech Alliance Briefing

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:02:32 GMT

A Local Ban, a Continental Warning

At a time when the European Commission is prioritising digital skills and cross-border cooperation to build a stronger digital education ecosystem, one region is moving firmly in the opposite direction.

In July, the Madrid Regional Government approved a blanket ban on the use of individual digital devices, including laptops, tablets, digital whiteboards, and even e-readers, in all publicly funded schools for children aged 0–12. While framed as a response to growing concerns around screen time, the policy offers little distinction between passive consumption and active, purposeful learning — and even less space for schools to exercise autonomy or contextual judgment.

Especially notable is that the device restrictions are time based: “Digital tools may only be used in strictly limited, supervised time blocks — 1 hour per week for 1st–2nd graders, scaling to 2 hours for grades 5–6”.

This approach raises urgent questions about teacher agency, what is considered “learning” and whether digital competence can truly be comparably developed under these constraints.

The consequences may appear limited to Spain. But the questions this raises, about the role of evidence in policymaking, the need for nuanced discussions around what EdTech is, the risks of polarised digital discourse, and the requirement for education systems to prepare students for a digitally complex world, are pan-European.

More than ever, the ecosystem needs clarity, collaboration, and data-driven dialogue. And as we prepare to launch new tools to support visibility, connection, and investment across the EdTech landscape, this moment is a powerful reminder of what’s at stake. You can read more about the ban here.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

Live on September 1st: The Re-imagined European EdTech Map

🎯 For the entire EdTech ecosystem

We’re relaunching the European EdTech Map — rebuilt from the ground up to make it easier for EdTech organisations to be found, connected, and supported.

With a simpler onboarding process, smarter navigation, and a more intuitive design, the new map is designed to increase the visibility of Europe’s EdTech innovators for visibility, partnerships, investment and connection across Europe.

If you're building or growing in EdTech, this is your place to be seen. To be included in the relaunch, please submit or update your profile today.

🔗 Complete the new onboarding survey
🔗 Preview the current map

This initiative is supported by the European Commission as part of the EmpowerED project, and part of our commitment to making Europe’s EdTech sector more visible and connected.

Now Live: The EdTech Funding Map

Launched July 1st | 🎯 For EdTech organisations seeking funding opportunities

A curated, growing database of grants and public funding opportunities available across Europe — currently available for organisations listed on the European EdTech Map.

💡 Submit new funding opportunities from your region and help us improve this early release!

Made possible through the generous support of the Jacobs Foundation.

Coming September 1st: The EdTech Invest Database

🎯 For EdTechs seeking equity investment and Investors looking for deal flow

We’re launching a new Investment database to help EdTech organisations connect with investors across Europe. This community-driven tool will highlight startups currently raising and the investors interested in supporting them.

Interested in being part of the first launch version? Let us know: invest@edtecheurope.org

We are pleased to introduce EEA Learning Labs, a new format developed in direct response to the learning needs within our community. These practical, focused sessions provide dedicated guidance to navigate today’s fast-moving EdTech landscape.

Each Lab is a 1–2 day, expert-led masterclass, bringing together founders, product teams, and experts. Participants work through real use cases, build concrete outputs, and receive direct feedback from domain experts, operators, and peers.

💡 Upcoming online Labs include:

AI Learning Lab
Legal Lab 1 - Compliance
Legal Lab 2 - Legal readiness
Central and Eastern Europe Lab

🔗 Register your interest here.

EEA Alliance of EdTech Alliances

The EEA is developing a new initiative aiming to connect global voices in EdTech and help them be heard across meaningful global policy platforms. If you are developing or managing an EdTech Alliance or member organisation in any region globally and are interested in finding out more, then contact alliance@edtecheurope.org!

Empowering European EdTech Summit

📅 4 November 2025 |📍 Grand Hotel Millennium, Sofia

The Empowering European EdTech Summit will gather 150+ innovators, educators, policymakers, and investors in Sofia this November. Led by EdTech Bulgaria and supported by the Human Resource Development Centre, the EmpowerED project and the EEA, this one-day event will explore how to align national and European strategies to unlock EdTech’s full potential across the continent. The event will celebrate the culmination of the EmpowerED project, by highlighting outputs, learnings and insights from consortium partners.

Register here!

EEA Board Member Tobias Himmerich featured in Vodafone Stiftung interview series

EEA board member Tobias Himmerich, founder of EDUvation, was recently featured in Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland’s Von Vision zu Veränderung series. Drawing on over a decade of experience, Tobias outlines persistent challenges for EdTech startups in Germany: limited access to schools, fragmented procurement processes, and a lack of test environments to validate new solutions. He stresses that without long-term infrastructure, such as funding pathways and feedback loops, innovation risks remaining disconnected from actual classroom needs.

Read the full interview here.

EmpowerED Policy surveys

As part of the EU-funded EmpowerED project, the EEA is compiling a final report to guide policymakers across Europe. This will address issues of funding gaps, fragmented procurement issues, a lack of testbeds and limited access to reliable data. Your opinion counts - make sure that you take a few minutes to share your experience.

📝 5-minute survey on funding realities
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/DI3Yd6MC
🔍 4-minute survey on testing and evaluation
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/iSUfvlGU
📦 3-minute survey on procurement and scaling
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/TUhBmYh3

And read our latest post on why a common definition of EdTech is so important!

🇹🇷 Welcome ETKİM (Türkiye)

We’re excited to welcome ETKİM – Educational Technologies Incubation and Innovation Center as our newest EEA member.

Founded by Türkiye’s Ministry of National Education at METU Teknokent, ETKİM provides pilot testing, evidence-based validation, and incubation support to more than 60 entrepreneurs and 150 R&D staff. It also hosts Türkiye’s Professional Learning Lab and plays a key role in growing national and international EdTech capacity.

🇫🇮 Finnish EdTech report 2025 Now Available

The latest Finnish EdTech Report presents a detailed picture of Finland’s EdTech ecosystem its growth, international ambitions, and policy context. Published by EdTech Finland in collaboration with the Finnish Startup Community, the report outlines:

€290M in annual revenue (2023), nearly 4x growth since 2010
Over 2,000 employees and 270 active firms
84% of companies are micro-enterprises
Strong focus on pedagogically aligned, research-based innovation

The report also maps over 100 EdTech companies and highlights export potential, ethical AI use, and the need for long-term support structures.

🇮🇹 EdTech Italia releases first national benchmark report

The Italian EdTech Report, produced by Edtech Italia in collaboration with Growth Capital, offers the first structured overview of Italy’s EdTech and HRTech ecosystem. Based on a dataset of over 200 companies and enriched with investment insights, the report highlights a rapidly evolving landscape:

€2.73B annual revenue across the sector
VC investments up 200% YoY
69% of companies already use AI
Double-digit growth expected through 2028

🔗 Read the report (in Italian) here.

Ecosystem Opportunities

Call for Reviewers: APJEE Themed Issue on AI in teaching & learning

The Asia Pacific Journal of Educators and Education (APJEE), a Scopus-indexed journal, is seeking reviewers for its upcoming themed issue: AI for Next Generation Teaching & Learning Environments. Selected reviewers will contribute to advancing academic discussion on the impact of AI in reshaping education globally.

📅 Deadline to apply: 15 August 2025 🔗 More info | Apply directly.

NextEdu 2025: Call now open

Save the Date!

🇺🇳 UNESCO Digital Learning Week | 2 - 5 September | Paris, France
AI and the Future of Education: Disruptions, Dilemmas and Directions
This year’s edition explores how AI is reshaping education, with a focus on equity, ethics, and human-centred innovation. Register here >

🇨🇭 Educa2025 | 3 September | Bern, Switzerland
With the theme of ‘I Click, therefore I am?’ this annual event is dedicated to digital identity - how do we define ourselves in the digital world and what impact does this have on education? Join the discussion and register here >

Check out our members’ newsletters

European EdTech Alliance

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 06:50:47 GMT

Will Europe Choose to Sustain Its Own EdTech Future?

Across Europe, we see remarkable innovation and an industry impacting millions of people: EdTech founders committed to solving local problems with integrity and a commitment to European values. Yet, around them, associations and support structures are struggling to survive. Some EEA members have lost half their communities; others are facing the real possibility of closure.

The erosion of this ecosystem isn’t due to a lack of talent or ambition, or even fragmentation, but rather to a lack of coordinated action.

At the recent Digital Education Stakeholder Forum, Roxana Mînzatu stated: “EdTech is the oxygen of society,” and suggested digital education was as important as the Finance or Security sectors. But where are the policies and public investments to ensure that oxygen continues to flow? European EdTech is being pushed to the margins - not due to irrelevance, but a lack of support. There are no dedicated funding mechanisms, no scaled testing environments, no meaningful public-private frameworks. Meanwhile, the digital public space becomes increasingly shaped by external actors whose values are not our own.

Technology is not neutral. It reflects the systems and cultures that create it. If we want education technology grounded in European values, we must build and sustain it here.

We are at a decision point and every action counts. Every stage we give, every procurement decision we make, every call we fund—or don’t. Will we back European-grown solutions, or continue to cede the space, often, as we saw at the Commission’s own forum, to innovations from the United States?

There is still time to build the ecosystem we need. But it requires bold, coordinated effort—now.

Beth Havinga
European EdTech Alliance

EEA Announcements

Launching the EdTech Funding Database, Europe.

As part of our redesigned European EdTech Maps environment, on the 1st of July the EEA launched the beta version of our EdTech Funding Database, which offers:

✅ funding opportunities especially for EdTech organisations
✅ A fully filterable data base to tailor your experience
✅ A growing database of opportunities for funding and collaboration

You can access the database if your organisation is listed on the EdTech Map or ask your local member of the European Edtech Alliance for your special code

This initiative is made possible with the support of the Jacobs Foundation.

Female EdTech Fellowship: Extended call for Early Stage programme

To accommodate summer schedules, the dates for the next Early Stage Fellowship has been moved to 7. August - 30. September 2025. The 8-week fully online programme supports early-stage female founders building EdTech solutions across Europe.

Explore full details and apply by July 11th on the FEF website.

Europe’s EdTech Sector: Reflections after board and team off-site

This month brought together the EEA board and Team in a first joint off-site meeting. Jannie Jeppesen, Chairwoman of the European EdTech Alliance, has summarised some of the key issues raised during this meeting in a timely editorial stating that Europe's struggling EdTech sector reflects a deeper crisis in educational policy priorities during turbulent times when education has become central to resilience and competitiveness.

While basic literacy and numeracy decline across Europe and digital skills gaps widen, education budgets face cuts and digital tools are being banned under simplistic "screen time" debates. Jeppesen emphasises that EdTech isn't the complete solution but is a crucial part of addressing educational challenges. Read the “EdTech from and for Europe” editorial here.

EEA Project Updates

EmpowerED Startup Mini-Summit

The 4th annual Startup Mini-Summit kicked off London EdTech Week 2025 on June 16th, bringing together over 100 European EdTech innovators, investors, and entrepreneurs. Organised by techUK, UCL, AWS, the European EdTech Alliance, and EU-funded project EmpowerED, the event focused on strengthening Europe's EdTech startup ecosystem.

The European EdTech Alliance presented five key "building blocks" for accelerating EdTech growth across Europe:

💡Establishing a common definition of EdTech
💡 Aligning strategic governance and policy
💡 Building innovation infrastructure
💡 Creating smarter funding mechanisms
💡 Developing evidence-based trust standards.

🌐 Read the event summary here.

EEA in Action

European Commission Expert Group meeting on DEC

The European Commission’s expert group on Digital Education Content (DEC) met for the last time this month to review the final draft of the upcoming guidelines for Digital Education Content targeting educators and school leaders. Represented by Beth Havinga, Albena Spasova (EdTech Bulgaria), and Pierre Laborde (AFNIEF), the EEA members supported the group’s commitment to inclusive, high-quality, future-ready digital learning environments.

Almedalen Political Festival, Sweden.

At a seminar at Sweden's political festival, Almedalen, Finland’s Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz, emphasized the urgency of a national AI strategy for schools to prepare young people for the future. He warned that having no strategy is a risk in itself. The panelists, our chair Jannie Jeppesen, the Swedish Teachers’ Unions chair, students and researchers agreed: AI must be integrated thoughtfulls, supporting learning, not replacing it. The Minister also highlighted the importance of including humanities and the arts alongside STEM to foster well-rounded individuals.

Who leads in digital education? Webinar

The European EdTech Alliance, represented by Board Member Alicia Berlanga, contributed to a high-level discussion titled “Who leads in digital education? Lessons from PISA, PIAAC and TIMSS”, organised by the European Digital Education Hub.

The webinar drew from international datasets (PISA 2022, PIAAC, and TIMSS) to assess how systems responded to the digital challenges of the pandemic. Read here for a full report on the webinar and the importance of avoiding simplistic narratives.

Reimagining Curriculum in the AI Era, UNESCO IBE, Switzerland

Roman Bruegger, Managing Director of the Swiss EdTech Collider, represented the EdTech sector at the UNESCO International Bureau of Education Symposium “Reimagining Curriculum in the AI Era: Innovation at the Centre of Education” in Geneva. In his remarks, he underscored the pivotal role of local EdTech ecosystems in driving bottom-up innovation, showcasing how grassroots initiatives that unite EdTech startups, schools, and learning scientists can create meaningful and sustainable transformation in education.

Photo Credit: G. Maillot, UNESCO

EU EdTech Policy

Digital Education Stakeholder Forum, Belgium

Under the title of ‘European EdTech: Time to Grow (up)!’ the EEA’s Beth Havinga joined Georgi Dimitrov (DG EAC, European Commission), Letizia Sbabaro (WeSchool) and Nanna-Louise Linde (Microsoft), to discuss the state of the EdTech ecosystem. The panel explored what is currently holding the ecosystem back and what is needed to ensure its sustainable success.

Ecosystem thinking emerged as an important issue with Beth mentioning the need to truly understand all sides of the ecosystem - that Skills programmes like Girls Go Circular are vital, but with only 3% of female founders in Europe receiving funding, welcoming women into STEM means little if the system doesn’t support them once they arrive. The topic of digital sovereignty exposed different understandings of what it meant to have an innovation-rich and resilient European education space. Importance was placed on recognising that the responsibility of supporting local environments is on all of us.

We thank DG EAC for their continued support of these important discussions and for driving topics of sustainability and growth for EdTech within Europe.

Photo Credit European Commission

Council of Europe & EEA Webinar

“Europe needs a framework that is conducive to innovation and that fosters education technologies.” -Ahmet Murat Kiliç.

On the 17th of June, the EEA co-hosted a webinar with the Council of Europe on how evaluation frameworks can strengthen trust in EdTech innovation.

Speakers included Beth Havinga (EEA) and Ahmet Murat Kiliç (Council of Europe). The discussion explored the EEA’s report, Building Trust in EdTech: Exploring Evidence-Based Approaches, and the Council of Europe’s, Feasibility study for a European reference framework for the evaluation of educational technologies. Together we explored the need for multi-stakeholder frameworks that reflect national contexts and shared European values, the need to protect human agency and learner rights in AI deployment, and the value of flexible, reference-based models that serve diverse systems.

EmpowerED Policy surveys

📝 5-minute survey on funding realities
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/DI3Yd6MC
🔍 4-minute survey on testing and evaluation
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/iSUfvlGU
📦 3-minute survey on procurement and scaling
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/TUhBmYh3

EEA Community

EdTech Summit Hungary

On 13. June 2025, EEA member, EdTech Hungary hosted the EdTech Summit in Budapest, with contributions from EEA members from Hungary, Poland, Spain, Sweden and beyond. Discussions spotlighted key topics such as critical themes like smartphones in schools, AI in classrooms, and learner well‑being.

During the EdTech Trends roundtable, EEA members urged a shift toward ethical, outcome‑driven innovation and stronger alignment between national and European strategies. A video message from EEA Chair Jannie Jeppesen underscored the long-term responsibility of ensuring technology continues to support, rather than distract from, educational goals.

🌐 Read the full recap from our community manager, Antonia Götte-Ortiz, here.

Member Spotlight: DOHE

As a proud member of the European EdTech Alliance, DOHE has supported over 140 early-stage EdTech startups in 52 countries since its launch in 2023, building a more connected, inclusive and informed global EdTech landscape.

During London EdTech Week 2025, DOHE co-hosted two high-level events:

Redefining Learning Forum (with techUK)
A roundtable exploring how policy, funding, and innovation can support EdTech.
EdTech Together - London (with MindCET)
A cross-border discussion on international scaling and cooperation.

Coinciding with these events, DOHE launched the Global EdTech Resource Map, a freely accessible platform aimed at helping stakeholders visualise, connect and collaborate across regions.

Ecosystem Opportunities

Call for EdTech solutions

UNICEF, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, ARM, and the Asian Development Bank are seeking evidence-backed EdTech solutions to help tackle the global learning crisis.

Get evaluated through the EdTech for Good Framework to be listed on the Learning Cabinet and unlock growth opportunities across the global south.

The EdTech for Good Framework evaluates and curates safe, impactful EdTech tools. Five pillars ensure excellence in learning: safety, impact, design, reach, and equity.

🗓️ Deadline: 31 July 2025! | 🌐 Submit your application here.

Save the Date!

July 8th-11th: AI for Good Global Summit, Switzerland

September 10th: Nordic EdTech Summit in Malmö, Sweden

September 17th-18th: Learning Conference (L&D and HR), Stockholm, Sweden

Check out our members’ newsletters

When education is erased - European EdTech Alliance Monthly Briefing may '25

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:02:32 GMT

When education is erased and EdTech doesn’t exist.

Across Europe, education, and with it EdTech, is being quietly erased from strategic focus. At the EU level, the role once focused explicitly on education has been restructured under a broader portfolio titled “People, Skills, and Preparedness” and research has been separated and moved to a portfolio encompassing startups and innovation. In Germany, the Federal Ministry responsible for Education and Research has been renamed the Ministry for Research, Technology and Space Travel.

In the EU Commission’s newly published Startup and Scaleup Strategy, EdTech is entirely absent, despite its important role in addressing teacher shortages, promoting accessibility and inclusion, and supporting digital readiness. We were informed that this omission is not significant, since other sectors were also left out. But there are issues with that response:

Words shape priorities. Titles define mandates. Absence leads to inaction.

This matters. When education and EdTech are not named, they risk being excluded from strategy, funding, and focus. Without clear political ownership, the sector loses visibility and accountability. Startups lack a reference point for support and alignment. Policymakers miss opportunities to address urgent challenges with proven tools. If these issues are ignored, the consequences will be felt by the 93.3 million pupils, the 5.4 million teachers, and the entire education system across Europe.

Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European Edtech Alliance

EEA Outreach

Webinar: How should Europe evaluate EdTech?

📅 17 June | 🕚 11:00–12:00 CET | 💻 Online

The European EdTech Alliance and the Council of Europe are co-hosting a webinar on 17 June to discuss current approaches to the evaluation of EdTech in Europe. The session will present findings from two complementary initiatives:

📕 The EdTech Strategy Lab’s 2024 report, exploring evidence-based approaches to building trust and EdTech evaluation systems, based on a year of research and consultation

📘 The Council of Europe’s feasibility study for a European Reference Framework for the Evaluation of AI Systems in Education.

We will discuss the outcomes of research and workshops exploring the needs for evaluation mechanisms for EdTech tools that align to ensure human rights, democracy and the rule of the law are protected, and national contexts, needs and requirements can be addressed.

Female EdTech Fellowship

Early-Stage track now open

Applications are open for the 8-week digital fellowship for early-stage female founders in Early Childhood, K-12, and Higher Education.

This fellowship is not just a course, but a transformative journey designed to empower and equip you with the essential skills and knowledge needed to launch and scale your EdTech solutions.

During the fellowship, you will:

🟣 Learn how to craft a compelling and airtight go-to-market strategy that resonates with your target audience and ensures sustainable growth,

🟣 Create invaluable connections and join an inspiring network of like-minded peers, mentors, and industry experts who will provide unwavering support, guidance, and collaboration opportunities,

🟣 Explore possibilities of further product development and breaking down market barriers.

Early-Stage track will help you transform your idea into a thriving, impactful business. Join the community of innovators!

🗓 10 days left: Apply or nominate female founder by June 15, 2025!

EmpowerED

Contribute to our surveys and change policy

Long sales cycles. Small teams. Funding gaps. Fragmented procurement processes. A lack of testbeds. Limited access to reliable market data. These aren’t the exception in EdTech, they’re the norm. Through the EU-funded EmpowerED project, we’re working to advocate for policies that support the real needs of EdTech founders based on evidence, not assumptions.

📝 The EEA is compiling a final report to inform the next Digital Europe Programme and guide policymakers across Europe. Your input will help us get it right.

Take a few minutes to share your experience:

👉 5-minute survey on funding realities
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/DI3Yd6MC

👉 4-minute survey on testing and evaluation
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/iSUfvlGU

👉 3-minute survey on procurement and scaling
https://fje0ieoadu7.typeform.com/to/TUhBmYh3

All three surveys are open until 30 September 2025.

Let’s make sure EdTech policy and support systems reflect the people building its future: YOU.

EdTech Evaluation in Practice

📍 21 May – EmpowerED Workshop in Helsinki

Co-hosted by the European EdTech Alliance, OAMK, Ifous, and Helsinki Education Hub, this full-day workshop explored how EdTech is evaluated before, during, and after adoption within the Finnish education system.

Key discussion points included:

Interoperability as a national priority
The need for shared language and continuous exchange
Time constraints and fragmentation in decision-making

Participants also visited TEKLA, Helsinki’s mobile testbed for classroom-based EdTech co-development.

EmpowerED is a project funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

EEA in Action

Data Protection & Privacy: New EEA Taskforce Launched

The European EdTech Alliance has launched a Data Protection & Privacy Taskforce to support members in addressing regulatory developments and strengthening responsible data use across the sector.

👥 👏 We welcome our taskforce leaders:

The group brings together representatives from national EdTech associations and experts committed to practical, collaborative approaches.

Supporting Ukraine’s EU Accession 🇺🇦

On 30 April 2025, Ukraine successfully completed its official screening under Chapter 26 of the EU accession negotiations, focusing on education, training, youth, and culture. To support this milestone, European EdTech Alliance Chairwoman Jannie Jeppesen participated in two days of expert mock sessions held in Brussels, providing analytical input and peer feedback to strengthen the clarity and coherence of Ukraine’s presentation.

📖 Read more.

📍 GITEX Europe 2025 – EdTech & Digital Policy

At GITEX Europe in Berlin, the EEA followed high-level sessions on AI, cybersecurity, and data governance, topics increasingly shaping the EdTech environment. The EEA was excited to be a community partner of the event.

📖 Read our reflections here!

Open calls & opportunities

🏆 GSCA 2025 | Call for EdTech Startup Coaches

The GSCA 2025 Coach Awards celebrate the work of startup coaches across Europe. Coaching, not mentoring: the focus is on startup-led thinking and long-term growth. The programme runs from 30 June to 12 December 2025, with the top three coaches receiving a share of $200,000. The results will be announced during Bett UK 2026.

📅 Application deadline: 13 June 2025

Apply here!

Investment News: May highlights from across Europe

The EdTech and Future of Work landscape across Europe remains dynamic, with several significant funding rounds announced in recent weeks. Here’s a snapshot:

🇳🇴 Pistachio (Norway) raised $7 million in a Series A round led by Walter Ventures to scale their fully automated cybersecurity awareness training platform.
🇩🇰 Alice.tech (Denmark) secured $4.8 million in a seed round led by Cherry Ventures to accelerate international expansion of their AI-powered learning platform.
🇸🇪 Bright (Sweden) raised SEK 3.2 million from Foundry Ventures and others for its all-in-one digital learning environment.
🇪🇸 Shakers (Spain) completed a €14 million Series A round, backed again by Brighteye Ventures. The company is developing infrastructure to support the future of work, enabling fast and flexible access to independent talent.

Save the Date

📍 EdTech Summit Hungary

🗓 13 June 2025 | Budapest, Hungary

A leading Hungarian event connecting EdTech companies, government organizations and teachers. The summit will address AI in education, online safety, and digital innovation across Hungarian schools. 🌐 https://edtechsummit.hu/

📍 London EdTech Week

🗓 16–20 June 2025 | London, United Kingdom

A global, community-led series of events celebrating innovation in education technology. The week features conferences, hackathons, networking meet-ups, and startup showcases across the city. 🌐 https://impactx2050.com/londonedtechweek Spotlights event:📍 EdTechX Summit | County Hall, London

💻 Unlocking the Power of Accessibility: The European Accessibility Act and the Future of EdTech

🗓 June 17th at 12.00 CET | Virtual roundtable

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) marks a transformative milestone for the digital landscape across Europe. While it presents new legal and technical requirements, it also opens the door to inclusive innovation—where accessibility becomes a foundation for better experiences for all. Registration Link: https://bit.ly/RS-EAA-roundtable

📍 Digital Education Stakeholder Forum

🗓 24 June 2025 | Brussels, Belgium

Organised by the European Commission, this high-level forum will review the Digital Education Action Plan and consult stakeholders on AI and EdTech.
🌐 https://education.ec.europa.eu/event/digital-education-stakeholder-forum-2025

Recommended events:

June 11-14: Viva Technology, France

July 8th-11th: AI for Good Global Summit, Switzerland

September 10th: Nordic EdTech Summit in Malmö, Sweden

September 17th-18th: Learning Conference (L&D and HR), Stockholm, Sweden

Check out our members’ newsletters

Not yet subscribed?

Join our community to receive future updates from across the European EdTech ecosystem.

European EdTech Alliance Briefing April '25

European EdTech Alliance — Wed, 07 May 2025 06:46:50 GMT

EdTech and digital sovereignty

Education is a central pillar of our societal systems. And EdTech supports learning not only in classrooms but across the full lifelong learning journey—from digital upskilling in manufacturing and healthcare to retraining in AI, cybersecurity, and green industries.

Yet, the European EdTech sector remains underutilised. Without coherent support, the companies developing these essential tools often remain fragile and unable to scale. At the same time, education and EdTech are also matters of European digital sovereignty. In an era of geopolitical tensions and AI-driven platforms, we need tools that are aligned with European values.

Without strong domestic capacity in EdTech, Europe risks becoming dependent on learning systems that are unaccountable, non-transparent, or misaligned with the public mandate of education. Strategic investment in European EdTech startups is not just about education: it is essential to Europe’s innovation capacity, skills agenda, and long-term competitiveness.

If you haven’t already, take the time to read through our report: the European EdTech Startup Innovation Ecosystem.

Read on for more ways that you can get involved directly in the coming months!

-Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

EEA EVENTS

Regional Consultation on Data Governance in EdTech in collaboration with UNICEF

🗓 9 May 2025, 12:15–13:30 CET

We would like to invite you to a consultation hosted by the European EdTech Alliance in collaboration with UNICEF. As part of the ongoing UNICEF project on data governance for children, UNICEF is working with UNESCO and the Global Privacy Assembly, together with a group of expert advisors from around the world, to carry out a landscape review on data governance for EdTech.

The landscape review will be published later in 2025, and in the meantime UNICEF is seeking to consult on the draft Policy Recommendations, in order to ensure that they reflect children’s realities across the world. The main objective is to consider how data governance of EdTech fits into broader national, international, and multistakeholder governance frameworks, from a child-rights based perspective.

You will be provided with a copy of the draft policy recommendations when you sign up for the consultation, and you can sign up using this form.

Evidence, Trust and evaluating EdTech Webinar

🗓 3 June 2025, 11:00-12:00 CET
👉 Register your interest here

Join the EEA and the Council of Europe in exploring evaluation mechanisms for EdTech.

Together we will discuss outcomes from a year exploring evidence and EdTech evaluations from the EEA as part of the EdTech Strategy Lab project, and the Council of Europe’s recent feasibility study for a European Reference Framework for the evaluation of EdTech.

Make sure to join the discussion!

Female EdTech Fellowships

New Opportunity: Early Stage Fellowship launches

Applications are now open for our 8-week digital fellowship designed specifically for Early Childhood Education, K-12, and Higher Education innovators. Through expert-led sessions, hands-on learning, and peer collaboration, participants will gain the essential tools to shape their business models for the European EdTech market, develop their products, propel sales, and take their first steps toward growth. Are you an early stage female founder - or do you know one? Now’s the chance to join a powerful community of women transforming education across Europe!

Apply by June 15: https://www.edtech-fellowship.eu/early-stage-fellowships

Introducing Cohort 7 of our Growth Stage track

We’re excited to welcome Cohort 7 of the Female EdTech Fellowships’ Growth Stage track, which includes ten outstanding female founders from across Europe who are driving innovation in education. This cohort includes Katharina Farkas (studyspace, 🇩🇪), Farida Danmeri (Learning Connected, 🇬🇧), Anu Guttorm (Moomin Language School, 🇫🇮), Simone Marschall (zooplace, 🇳🇱), Milena Pfluegl (Impact School, 🇩🇪), Lucy Huelin (Vocabulous, 🇬🇧), Carmina Catena (HiPe Kids, 🇫🇷), Franziska Schmid (mycelia.education, 🇩🇪), Amalie Danckert (WOOF, 🇩🇰), and Sama Tanveer (Train the Future, 🇩🇪). These inspiring leaders are building impactful EdTech solutions that span from early learning to future-ready workforce skills, and we’re proud to support their journey through the Female EdTech Fellowships.

EEA in Action

European Commission Expert Group for Digital Education Content

This month, EEA members Pierre Laborde (representing AFINEF) and Albena Spasova (EdTech Bulgaria) joined the EEA’s Beth Havinga in Brussels for the latest meeting of the European Commission’s Expert Group for Digital Education Content. Over the past year, the expert group has been collaborating to co-create practical guidelines aimed at helping teachers and school leaders make the most of Digital Education Content (DEC). These guidelines are set to be published in Q4 2025.

Online Consultation on the Draft Recommendation on AI Literacy of the Council of Europe

Representing European EdTech, EEA members were invited this week to contribute to an online consultation discussing the Draft Committee of Ministers (CM) Recommendation on AI Literacy for Empowering Human Rights, Democracy and Social Agency of the Council of Europe’s Education group.

A CM Recommendation is one of the Council of Europe’s legal instruments. It is considered a ‘soft law’, non-binding legal instrument, approved by the Committee of Ministers from the 46 member states. It is important because it suggests actionable recommendations that influence national policies. See related work of the Council here.

EEA & EmpowerED: SETT Stockholm 2025

On 8 April, the European EdTech Alliance team joined our EmpowerED colleagues at SETT in Stockholm to moderate a dynamic panel discussion on quality assurance of digital learning tools in the Nordics. We explored how the Nordic countries are working with quality assurance in digital learning tools—and the innovative ways they’re bringing stakeholders together. These innovation ecosystems align technology with pedagogical needs, while fostering sustainable public-private collaboration.

Member Spotlight

Swedish Edtech Industry: New Resources for AI Literacy and Policy Alignment

“We need EdTech from and for Europe. The EEA gives us one voice in pan-European discussions and strengthens our collective ability to act.”

Swedish Edtech Industry supports the development of a sustainable, evidence-informed, and interoperable digital ecosystem for education in Sweden. They offer valuable resources on school procurement, compliance, interoperability, and research-driven design. Initiatives like Edtechkartan.se guide stakeholders on these critical topics.

The organisation recently launched a national guide to the EU AI Act for school leaders, highlighting the implications of Article 4 on AI literacy, and providing practical checklists to support early-stage compliance.

In the current geopolitical climate, Swedish Edtech Industry notes a growing risk that digital skills and media/AI literacy are being deprioritised in public discourse. The organisation advocates for continued investment in these areas as critical foundations for democratic resilience, especially in the context of online disinformation and polarisation.

Swedish Edtech Industry invites peers across Europe to engage with the Learning Conference for L&D professionals in Stockholm, the Nordic-Baltic EdTech Summit in Malmö, and SETT Nordic Track, focused on K-12 innovation.

Save the Date!

Spotlight events:

📍 EmpowerED Workshop: Exploring EdTech Evaluation Across the Education Lifecycle
🗓 22 May 2025 | Helsinki, Finland
In collaboration with Helsinki Education Hub, this series of complementary EmpowerED workshops will provide a snapshot of the evolving Finnish EdTech ecosystem, focusing on how different stakeholders evaluate technology—before adoption, during use, and at renewal points.
🌐 Register here

📍 EmpowerEDEdTech Summit Hungary
🗓 13 June 2025 | Budapest, Hungary
The fourth edition of the conference aims to showcase the latest developments and research in educational technology and to connect members of the professional community. The event also seeks to promote the integration of educational technology innovations into the educational systems, increase the effectiveness of digital tools and methods in education, and support the practical application of research findings.
🌐 https://edtechsummit.hu/

📍 London EdTech Week
🗓 16–20 June 2025 | London, United Kingdom
An international series of events dedicated to investment, research and innovation in education technology. EEA will be co-hosting the 4th annual Startup Mini-Summit with EmpowerED, UCL EdTech Labs and TechUK on 16 June from 12:30 - 6pm. Join us!
🌐 https://londontechweek.com

Recommended events:

May 12-14: PODIM Startup Conference

June 4-6: South Summit Madrid

July 8th-11th: AI for Good Global Summit, Switzerland

September 10th: Nordic EdTech Summit in Malmö, Sweden

September 17th-18th: Learning Conference (L&D and HR), Stockholm, Sweden

Check out our members’ newsletters

EEA Newsblast: The EU EdTech Startup Ecosystem

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:13:58 GMT

Why EdTech Must Be Central to Europe’s Startup Strategy

As the European Commission finalises its new Startup Strategy, a critical question remains: Will EdTech be part of the plan?

The European EdTech Alliance has prepared a summary overview of the European EdTech Ecosystem to highlight how the EdTech sector, home to over 7,800 companies and 400,000 employees, represents one of Europe’s greatest untapped competitive advantages. With powerful data, policy-aligned recommendations, and a roadmap for action, our overview makes the case for placing EdTech at the heart of Europe’s innovation and digital sovereignty agenda.

While these figures offer a robust snapshot, it’s important to note that varying definitions of ‘EdTech’ across regions and institutions likely mean the actual size and impact of the sector could be even greater than currently reported. Read here for further information about the definitional issues related to the term ‘EdTech’.

A strong EdTech ecosystem in Europe is essential for inclusive, future-ready education across all segments of learning.

🔍 Discover the scale, positioning, and strategic potential of European EdTech:

📄 Download the report here

European EdTech Alliance Briefing March '25

European EdTech Alliance — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 06:35:33 GMT

“Partnership is the new leadership”
-Stefania Giannini (UNESCO)

As the global education landscape evolves, one message is increasingly echoed across regions and initiatives: partnership is no longer a supporting role—it is the central driver of sustainable transformation. From UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition and the Digital Transformation Collaborative to the record-breaking EdTech Congress Barcelona, we are witnessing how shared purpose, cross-sector collaboration, and inclusive dialogue can better support education systems.

This month, the European EdTech Alliance (EEA) actively contributed: at UNICEF’s Global Data Governance Workshop, we joined leading voices to explore how public and private actors can co-create trust-based models, and how data itself should be recognised as a common good in education. We also led the second edition of our UNESCO Global Education Coalition Workshop, focused on advancing trustworthy alliances across the EdTech ecosystem. Last week, we then participated in the European Conversation on Impact Measuring and EdTech Test-bedding in Belgium, where participants from 13 countries explored how we measure what matters in EdTech innovation and shared new models for meaningful, context-aware testing.

Together, these moments reinforce a shared truth: building the future of education requires spaces for dialogue, trust, and joint action.

-Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European EdTech Alliance

The EEA EdTech Funding Database

The EEA is creating a database of funding opportunities for EdTech organisations. To receive early access to the database and be part of shaping this work, make sure to fill out this short survey (2 mins) to gain first access to the database before it is launched publicly!

This initiative is generously supported by the Jacobs Foundation.

EEA Partnerships

5th annual meeting of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition

On 24 March 2025, UNESCO hosted the fifth annual meeting of the Global Education Coalition (GEC) in Paris, bringing together over 260 members from across sectors committed to supporting education worldwide. The coalition, established in response to the COVID-19 learning crisis, focused this year on scaling partnerships, fostering sustainable digital transformation, and accelerating progress toward SDG 4.

Photo Credit: Cyril Bailleul

A key theme of the event was the rising digital divide and the complexity of embedding technology meaningfully in education. UNESCO's Stefania Giannini opened the event with a call to view "partnership as the new leadership," celebrating milestones like reaching over a million learners and teachers globally, while also highlighting the urgent challenges ahead: underfunded systems, lack of qualified teachers, and continued access inequalities. The meeting affirmed a clear message, which as members of the coalition, we share: digital transformation in education must be guided by inclusion, trust, and shared responsibility across sectors.

🔗 Read the full EEA report here

EEA in Action

EEA Workshop at GEC 2025: Building Trustworthy EdTech Alliances

As part of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition (GEC) meeting in Paris, the European EdTech Alliance (EEA) co-organised a dynamic workshop exploring how to build effective, inclusive, and trust-based alliances. The session brought together global experts and practitioners to co-develop ideas for stronger collaboration, grounded in shared values and real-world practice.

The session opened with UNESCO’s Borhene Chakroun emphasising the need for safe, collaborative spaces. A standout moment came from Martín Benavides (UNESCO IIEP), who shared how, as Peru’s Minister of Education during the pandemic, he rapidly launched a national distance learning strategy. With support from the GEC, Peru launched a nationwide virtual school within one month—highlighting the power of aligned public-private collaboration, clear goals, and trust.

Participants explored what makes a trustworthy alliance and discussions highlighted the need to better connect all actors, especially those closest to learners, with clear governance, shared vision, open communication, and balanced public-private roles. Crucially, alliances must be agile yet robust, bridging global strategies and local realities through continuous learning—echoing the recent Building Trust in EdTech report’s call for more inclusive, human-centred digital ecosystems.

Find out more about the workshop here.

UNICEF Global Data Governance Workshop

How can data protection and data governance fit with EdTech development? What is the role of DPAs, the public sector, and EdTech companies?

This month, Beth Havinga represented the EEA at a Global Data Governance Workshop coordinated by UNICEF. Together with inspiring experts from around the world, these two knowledge-rich days explored:

Potential methods of supporting early-stage companies design with data intent
Business models of EdTech using data
Better conditions for collaboration between stakeholders
Methods for certification and evaluation of EdTech
Public and sustainable funding mechanisms for EdTech and an understanding of Data as a common good for progressing education
The importance of recognising the state of development of EdTech in any evaluation mechanisms
Future trends in data and education and potential regulatory challenges
The necessity to ensure the agency of learners and educators in data questions

We are grateful to UNICEF for hosting us and leading such impactful discussions.

European Conversation on Impact Measuring and EdTech Testbedding

On 27-28 March 2025, around 40 participants from 13 European countries gathered for the “European Conversation on Impact Measuring and EdTech Testbedding”, an inspiring two-day event organised jointly by EmpowerED, , and GETN in Kortrijk, Belgium. The event featured an “EdTech Safari”, showcasing seven innovative EdTech testbeds from Switzerland, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ireland, each demonstrating unique approaches to EdTech testing, collaboration, and integration within broader educational ecosystems. Through interactive discussions and design-thinking workshops, attendees explored common challenges and laid foundations for deeper cooperation.

🔗 Continue reading here.

Upcoming:

Meet members of the EEA EmpowerED team at SETT in Stockholm next week! We'll be supporting our project colleagues at the iFous booth and also moderating a panel discussion on "Quality assurance of digital learning tools: Nordic testbeds in focus" on 8 April 2025 from 15:30pm - 16:15. This 45-minute session will present and discuss how the Nordic countries are working with quality assurance of digital learning tools. Countries such as Sweden and Finland will showcase examples of how they contribute to quality assurance in different ways. The speakers will also highlight some of the challenges in this field. Join us!

Member Spotlight

edTech Poland

Driving Innovation in Polish Education

The EdTech Poland Foundation champions innovation in Polish education by supporting teachers, students, schools, and startups. Its mission: to build a modern education system rooted in technology and tailored to real-world needs.

Each month, the foundation helps new EdTech startups navigate the Polish education landscape—adapting products to meet the everyday realities of classrooms. Their work includes research on teaching quality and consultation with government bodies on digital tools for schools.

Recently, EdTech Poland curated the exhibition space at a key event hosted by the Ministry of National Education, gathering European leaders in school digitization.As AI transforms the education landscape, the foundation is closely tracking emerging workforce competencies. It sees a growing trend in EdTech toward preparing students with practical, future-proof skills.

Interested in collaborating or opening your market to Polish EdTech?
Connect with EdTech Poland Foundation to explore event partnerships and knowledge exchange.

EduTech Cluster, Spain

Organised by our member, EduTech Cluster, the 11th EdTech Congress Barcelona surpassed all expectations this year, drawing 1,643 participants from across Spain and countries including the Netherlands, Argentina, Canada, and Australia. The move to a larger venue—Palau de Congressos de Montjuïc at Fira de Barcelona—enabled a 68% increase in attendance over 2024, solidifying the event as a major reference point in the global EdTech landscape.

The two-day event featured:

22 sessions
50 speakers
52 participating companies and startups

This year’s theme focused on educational assessment and sparked rich discussion on how to ethically and effectively integrate technology into learning environments.

Key voices like Neil Selwyn (Monash University) and María de la Mar Sánchez (University of Murcia) called for more reflective, ethical, and equitable uses of EdTech—urging a shift toward technologies that support communities, trust, and collective well-being. Make sure to check out the conference website!

Looking ahead:
The 2026 edition will take place on 3–4 February at the CCIB – Fira Barcelona, with a focus on how digital tools can enhance teaching, professional training, and talent development—while keeping learner well-being at the center.

European Policy

Council of Europe activity report 2024

The Council of Europe's Education Department has released its 2024 Activity Report, detailing significant strides in promoting democratic culture, enhancing education quality, and advancing digital transformation across member states. The report underscores the department's dedication to fostering inclusive and resilient education systems throughout Europe.

🔗 Access the full report here

Save the Date!

April 8th: Nordic Track@SETT, Stockholm, Sweden

April 24th-25th: EU-Startups Summit in Malta

July 8th-11th: AI for Good Global Summit, Switzerland

September 10th: Nordic EdTech Summit in Malmö, Sweden

September 17th-18th: Learning Conference (L&D and HR), Stockholm, Sweden

Check out our members’ newsletters

European EdTech Alliance Update February '25

European EdTech Alliance — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 07:01:58 GMT

A new education reality

Against the background of a U.S. president siding with Russia in the UN General Assembly, a democratically elected leader being salaciously labelled a dictator and calls within Europe for immediate weaponisation, the last weeks have felt surreal.

We are also seeing the face of education change, not only in war-torn Ukraine, but also in the U.S.A as their government started deleting research, decades of inquiry and insights and, as of yesterday, not only fired half their staff, but also completely closed the offices of Education Technology and Special Education and Rehabilitation.

Concurrently, the EEA has been supporting Ukraine’s Minister of Education joined by other experts, by critically reviewing Ukraine’s education policies and efforts in a mock trial ahead of their late-March presentation for EU membership. A process they have been working on for years.

The numbers from Ukraine tell a story beyond policy and governance—a story of resilience, adaptation, and education survival in the face of war. In Ukraine, they are introducing new laws, launching new curricula, and making major investments. And yet, every number and statistic also exposes the reality of education during war. Thousands of preschools are forced to operate remotely or follow a hybrid model. Schools are being built in subway stations or shelters and millions invested in transport systems to get children to safer areas for learning.

This changing education reality sees 93% of all schools having "panic buttons" installed, the vocational education system undergoing large-scale adjustments to support injured veterans who need to be retrained due to physical or psychological trauma, and special reception courses being developed to facilitate the reintegration of returning students.

The EEA was founded upon principles of support, strengthening each other across borders and politics. Now, more than ever, it is essential that we come together in practical ways to stand up for our values, and act in favour of freedom and democracy. Together, we can be stronger, together we can support each other, show compassion and set examples of what true democratic participation should look like.

-Jannie Jeppesen, Chair European Edtech Alliance

You can actively support United 24, the Ukrainian state platform for donations, now raising funds for power generators to keep 112 Ukrainian schools going.

Exploring Evidence-Based Approaches in EdTech- Final report out now!

“Without trust, nothing works, institutions fall, no safety is felt, no friendships or partnerships lasts, no new knowledge can be built, and no progress made”.

Over the course of a year, the European EdTech Alliance developed and ran the EdTech Strategy Lab project aiming to determine what evaluation processes existed that can support evidence-informed decision-making practices, and whether or not a single, unified framework for evaluation could be a possibility.

To explore these and related challenges, the EEA spent 2024 bringing together diverse stakeholders, from educators and developers to policymakers and researchers, for an open and collaborative discussion about the critical role of trust, evidence, and alliances in the EdTech ecosystem with the aim of finding out more about what trust and evidence mean to key stakeholders.

The final report summarising the responses of participants and our research during the past 12 months is out today - make sure to download it here.

The EdTech Strategy Lab is generously supported by the Jacobs Foundation

Launch of a new female fellowship network

To celebrate International Women’s Day, last week the EEA launched the Female EdTech Fellowship Alumnae Network. This vibrant new community extends the impact of our original fellowship programme by creating a powerful, supportive ecosystem of female leaders across the European EdTech landscape. Interested to learn more? Follow our LinkedIn page for the opportunity to meet our founding members in the coming weeks or email programmes@edtecheurope.org.

U.S.A resource collection

The United States Department of Education and, in particular, the Office of Educational Technology, which as of 11. March 2025 has been closed, created a number of resources that have been foundational in supporting developers, educators and decision-makers in essential areas of technology integration and implementation. Since February 2025, these resources have been removed from the Department of Education’s website and archive. We believe that they contain important knowledge that deserves to be shared and have saved these documents on European servers. You can find the resource collection here.

EEA in Action

The EEA is honoured to be part of the Advisory Group for the EdTech Evidence Board, a DfE-funded initiative led by the Chartered College of Teaching in the UK. Antonia Clary, representing the EEA in this group, was invited to deliver a keynote at the Chartered College’s EdTech Summit on 10th March. The keynote focused on building trust and evidence-based evaluation in the EdTech ecosystem, aligning closely with the mission of the EdTech Evidence Board.

Upcoming:

The EEA looks forward to participating in the UNICEF workshop on data governance being held in Florence in March, to gain an understanding of potential ecosystem recommendations.

Continuing our discussions around how to create trust and sustainable partnerships across stakeholder groups within the education ecosystem, the EEA looks forward to hosting a workshop on building trustworthy alliances as part of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition.

We look forward to continuing discussions around testing and trialling spaces for EdTech as part of the Global EdTech Testbed Network (GETN) online workshop and the initiative of our member, EdTech Station with their event, Initiating a European conversation on EdTech Testbedding, which coincides with the Learning Bytes Festival.

Member Spotlight

EdTech Ukraine Association

This month, the EdTech Ukraine Association launched the Distance Education Committee - an initiative bringing together distance schools, online courses and institutions creating outstanding digital tools for modern learning.

According to the European Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA) Report 2024, Ukraine ranks 4th out of 24 European countries in implementing Startup Nations Standards (SNS), achieving a 73% implementation rate, significantly exceeding the EU average of 61%.

✅ Business Registration Speed – 100%: Ukraine has demonstrated outstanding efficiency, allowing entrepreneurs to register a company in just one day via the Diia portal. Currently, only 17% of European countries have reached this level of efficiency, and Ukraine is among them.
✅ Access to Funding – 100%: The Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF) has been recognized as an example of effective financial support policy. Thanks to its initiatives, Ukraine scored 100% in the “Access to Funding” standard, ensuring that startups can secure the necessary investments for innovation and growth.
✅ Digital Technologies & Accessibility – 100%: Under Standard 8 “Digital Technologies,” Ukraine achieved 100% digital public service accessibility, ranking among 18 EU countries at the top level. This reflects the country’s advanced digital infrastructure, creating a seamless and efficient business environment.
✅ Tax Regulations & Stock Options – 100%: Ukraine offers a favorable tax regime for tech companies under Diia.City, providing stock options as an essential financial tool. This mechanism enables startup employees to acquire shares in their companies, fostering a strong innovation-driven ecosystem.

European Policy Report

Technology use in Education across Europe

This month, Estonia led the charge by being the first country to announce a plan for all secondary school students to have access to AI tools including ChatGPT Edu. This is contested in other countries and comes at a time when OpenAI is trying to change its training models and uncensoring the system and when the U.S. government is rolling back AI guardrails. Against this background, the tender for the proposed national German AI system has now been rescinded due to one consortium contesting the procedure. The entire project should now be put to a new tender with a new process, making it very unclear when Germany may have a national system in place.

The debate about screen time use in schools continues to lead discussions within Europe with both the Danish government confirming bans in schools and after school care in reaction to a report on digital wellbeing, and Icelandic Ministry of Education and Children’s affairs confirming they are developing rules to implement a ban on mobile phones.

Following the EEA’s own statements outlining a need to ensure discussions about screen time are nuanced, IKT Norge has responded to a report from Norway’s Screen Usage Committee stating: (there is a) need for nuance in the concept of screen. Continuing to state:

The content consumed ranges from games, series and social media in leisure time to educational tools and digital learning materials in school. There is an important distinction between children’s screen use in leisure time and the educational use of digital tools and learning materials in school.

The Council of Europe - Evidence in Practice:

How should EdTech and AI systems in education be evaluated or certified? The Council of Europe wants to help answer this question and introduced a first look at their feasibility study for a review system for EdTech. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the recording here.

European Commission strategies

On the 5. March, the European Commission adopted the STEM Education Strategic Plan. This is a key initiative of the Union of Skills, a strategy to support the development of the Union’s human capital and strengthen EU competitiveness. The STEM Education Strategic Plan complements the Action Plan on Basic Skills, which was also adopted on the 5. March.

The STEM Education Strategic Plan sets out a comprehensive EU framework for advancing STEM education and training to increase talent development, retention and circulation across Europe. The Action Plan on Basic Skills addresses skills shortages and how best the EU and Member States can improve basic skills, including digital skills, and promote excellence from the early years through all stages of school education and adult learning. For further details, see the press release, Q&A and factsheets: A Union of Skills to equip people for a competitive Europe

Funding and M&A News

According to Brighteye Ventures’ European Edtech Funding Report 2025, Sweden ranked third in Europe for investment raised with $113 million from 10 deals in 2024.

Albert Group is now launching Albert Junior in the Czech Republic, where it sees that “interest in digital education is growing rapidly.”

Kahoot! has won a public tender in Spain and will “now roll out 37,000 faculty licenses” to 37 public universities across the country.

Apply now to join the next cohort of the Female EdTech Fellowships.

Check out the new Swedish EdTech Accelerator from Business Sweden.

Applications are also now open for the HundrEDorg Global Collection 2026.

Save the Date!

March 24th: UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition event

March 25th-26th: Tech.eu Summit in London, UK

March 28th: Learning Bytes Festival, Belgium

April 8th: Nordic Track@SETT, Stockholm, Sweden

April 24th-25th: EU-Startups Summit in Malta

July 8th-11th: AI for Good Global Summit, Switzerland

September 10th: Nordic EdTech Summit in Malmö, Sweden

September 17th-18th: Learning Conference (L&D and HR), Stockholm, Sweden

Check out our members’ newsletters

European EdTech Alliance Update January 25

European Edtech Alliance — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 06:03:19 GMT

An Education Resistance

In a time of misinformation
education is an act of resistance
- Loryn Brantz

The year has started with so much uncertainty for so many here in Europe. With wars and geopolitical uncertainty from north to south, governments that must be reformed, others in the process of elections, large budget cuts in education and culture, and new political directions for many countries. From over the Atlantic we hear about plans to dissolve the US Department of Education entirely, stark changes to what can be taught, and bans for scientific papers that include certain terms, like multicultural, inequality, inclusion, discrimination, bias, and women.

The news cycle is moving so fast, that it can feel overwhelming. It is hard to understand how to meaningfully contribute and have agency during this time.

It is more important than ever to create spaces of support and alliances of understanding, which continue to drive work within education and are based on the democratic principles upon which the Europe we know is built. Let critical thinking, digital skills and education be the resistance we show in these uncertain times.

Politically speaking, this year may not be an easy one for us all to navigate. But the work that is being done within education in Europe is more important than ever. And we will continue to create the spaces we can to foster meaningful and nuanced discussions. Now, more than ever, please continue to be involved, to engage with your education communities, and to use your voice.

-Beth Havinga

Female EdTech Fellowships

We are excited to announce the transformation of the Female EdTech Fellowship into a more expansive and impactful program for 2025! This year, we will be offering three distinct tracks: Early Stage, Growth Stage, and the Alumnae Network. Our commitment to supporting female founders across Europe remains at the forefront as we evolve to meet the needs of women in the EdTech sector.

Explore our overview that details the new additions, registration links and deadlines. It also provides information on how you can nominate female founders.

EmpowerED 2025

🌟Community 🌟Collaboration 🌟Exchange

The past 2 years of the EmpowerED project have seen so many initiatives and empowerment of local EdTech ecosystems. The project has produced meaningful reports, like the state of play of EdTech and the European EdTech Ecosystem Roadmap guidelines to help the ecosystem, like how to test and prototype EdTech and how to navigate the EdTech landscape and MOOCs supporting educators in EdTech procurement and EdTech developers in principles of entrepreneurship. Get ready in 2025 for a celebration of community events, knowledge exchange opportunities, ecosystem growth, in depth reports, and more!

EmpowerED is funded by the European Commission, coordinated by European Schoolnet, includes us and EDUvation, Ministry of Education and Training, Ifous, Swedish Edtest, Wonderful Education, Švietimo, mokslo ir sporto ministerija, Computer Technology Institute and Press “DIOPHANTUS” (CTI) and FundingBox.

EdTech Strategy Lab

In 2024, the EdTech Strategy Lab project explored EdTech evaluation mechanisms, the definition of evidence and the importance of Trust. In our Deep Dive articles, we explored gaps that participants in our workshops and interviews had identified as well as some of the major challenges to developing one single framework of evaluation for EdTech. After a year of exploration, the project suggested a need for building better bridges between existing types of evaluation to strengthen the depth of evidence and knowledge. 2024 ended with a celebration event hosted by UNESCO in Paris.

In 2025, the EdTech Strategy Lab project will be exploring exactly what information key stakeholders need from evaluations and from EdTech companies. Additionally, we will be continuing our workshops on evidence and trust, and will be developing a map of funding opportunities for the EdTech ecosystem. Stay tuned for how to get involved in our 2025 activities!

The EdTech Strategy Lab is generously supported by the Jacobs Foundation

The Council of Europe - Evidence in Practice:

How should EdTech and AI systems in education be evaluated or certified? The Council of Europe wants to help answer this question.

Join the webinar on February 18th and learn more about the draft European Reference Framework for the Evaluation of Educational Technologies including AI systems. Register by February 14th here!

The Council of Europe has a new destination for all things Education on LinkedIn. Make sure to follow their page to stay up to date.

EEA at BETT

It was energising to be back at BETT and our pleasure to introduce a number of the inspiring solutions presented at the Innovation Theatre from the Startup space. It was wonderful to present some of our work from the EdTech Strategy Lab project in a panel discussion together with Tal Havivi of ISTE, Milja Laakso of UNICEF, Sean D’Arcy of Kahoot and chaired by Natalia Kucirkova of ICEIE. Together we explored the opportunities and challenges presented by EdTech evaluation and certifications.

Women in EdTech Networking at BETT UK

Again this year, we teamed up with Bett Global and BESA to host a fantastic networking event for women leaders in EdTech. It was an opportunity for brilliant minds in our industry to connect, exchange innovative ideas, and inspire one another — and we were lucky to have so many past and present Female EdTech Fellows there!

Other News & Opportunities

Open call: HundrED Global Collection 2026

Share your work for the opportunity to be featured in the HundrED Global Collection, highlighting the 100 brightest education innovations from around the world. The latest collection 2025 saw a significant rise in the integration of technology with 55 out of the 100 selected innovations using some form of EdTech, more than a 100% increase from the previous year.

WoW University, in collaboration with our Member EdTech Lithuania, the National Network of Education NGOs, and The Education Exchanges Support Foundation, is delighted to invite you to the upcoming conference Lifelong Learning: The Guarantee of an Advanced Country, which will take place on February 25th, starting at 9:30 AM (online). The keynote speaker's presentation is scheduled for 1:00 PM (GMT+2). Register here!

Calling all European teachers!

As part of the EEA’s work in the Stakeholder Group of the European Commission exploring digital education content, we want to hear from you!

✔ How do you select and evaluate digital learning content?
✔ Which ones really transform your practice? What works - and what doesn't?
✔ What support do you need to make the most of digital contents and tools?

⏳ In 7-10 minutes, let your expert voice be heard:
🔗 https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Teachers-and-Digital-Education-Content

EU AI Act

This week marks a significant milestone in AI regulation as the EU AI Act officially comes into effect. As the world’s first comprehensive AI law, it introduces a risk-based framework that categorises AI systems by their potential harm, imposing strict requirements on high-risk applications while banning unacceptable risks like biometric surveillance. For education and EdTech, this presents both challenges and opportunities. Compliance will be a hurdle, especially for startups and SMEs navigating complex requirements. However, it also opens doors for innovation in ethical AI, trust-driven solutions, and alignment with global AI governance trends.

The next deadline is August 2, 2025, when penalties and enforcement mechanisms take effect. Read more here.

Funding and M&A News

Coding Giants, a Polish digital education platform teaching coding skills to children and teens, raised 8.5m € for US expansion.

Icelandic Moombix received 2.3m € to launch their online music learning and matchmaking platform in the UK.

Smartify, a visitor engagement platform for museums allowing users to scan artworks using their phone, and access detailed information, raised 1.8m €.

Magma Math, A Swedish math solution, raised 40m USD, to further their expansion in the US.

Latvian startup Solfeg.io won the GESAwards top prize and $20,000, competing against 8,000+ startups from 135 countries

Corsmed Raises $3.5M from Luminar and Big Pi to advance its mission of saving 100 million lives.

CybExer Technologies secured €1.5M funding via SEB Baltic Venture Debt to expand its AI-based Cyber Range service globally.

Keystone Education Group secured a €100M bond issue from Nordic and international investors to fuel global growth.

Thanks to Jonathan Viner from Nordic EdTech News for the valuable funding information this month! Make sure to follow their newsletter for more information from the nordics.

Save the Date!

February 10th-11th: Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, France

February 18th-19th: EdTech Congress in Barcelona, Spain

March 25th-26th: Tech.eu Summit in London, UK

April 8th: Nordic Track@SETT, Stockholm, Sweden

April 24th-25th: EU-Startups Summit in Malta

September 10th: Nordic EdTech Summit in Malmö, Sweden
Early Bird tickets are now available here. The offer is open until 28th February and the event only has capacity for approximately 200 EdTech leaders, so act quickly to reserve your spot.

September 17th-18th: Learning Conference (L&D and HR), Stockholm, Sweden

Check out our members’ newsletters

European Edtech Alliance year in review

Beth Havinga — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 07:58:18 GMT

2024 for the European Edtech Alliance

The EEA represents 28 Members from 25 Countries throughout Europe and brings together a wealth of experience in education. Members meet once a month to exchange best practice and support each other through targeted knowledge exchanges.

This year we welcomed a new board and are grateful to members and board members alike for their continued engagement and trust. Read on for an overview of some of our milestones this year!

Policy initiatives

The EEA has become a member of the UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition and we are excited to continue our work as part of the Digital Transformation Collaborative on topics of evidence, trust and data.

We have continued our support of the European Commission’s activities by providing a review of the Digital Education Action Plan. It is also our pleasure to be members of the commission’s stakeholder group on Digital Education Content, joined by two of our members, EdTech Bulgaria (Albena Spasova) and AFINEF (Pierre Laborde).

For the Council of Europe’s second working conference on regulating AI systems in Education, the EEA team developed the event formats and supported in managing the conference.

As a keynote speaker participating in the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union’s Digital Education Dialogues event, we got to present key ideas around Trust, Data, and a multi-stakeholder approach to collaboration.

EdTech Strategy Lab

In 2024, the EdTech Strategy Lab launched as a pivotal initiative aimed at empowering the EdTech ecosystem, fostering collaboration, and exploring the evolving needs and requirements of stakeholders around the topics of trust, evidence, and partnerships.

We have extensively explored the topics of evidence and evaluation frameworks for EdTech. See our deep dive reports for further insights:

Over the course of the project in 2024, we delivered 16 workshops—both in-person and online—including listening sessions and dynamic feedback loops such as surveys. This comprehensive approach resulted in a community reach of over 10,000 participants, highlighting significant support and sustained interest in this initiative. Engagement extended to high-level actors, with 48 ministries of education participating, underscoring the project's importance at a global level.

Our culminating event of 2024 welcomed 135 attendees from 32 countries, featuring over 30 speakers. The iterative and intentional design of these events has been central to their success. Through ongoing cycles of building, refining, experimenting, and reflecting, we engaged with an exceptionally wide range of stakeholders—from elementary school students to senior policymakers.

EmpowerED

In the second year of the EmpowerED project, the EEA and project partners focused on refining and testing event formats to better serve stakeholders. Key initiatives that were led or co-organised by the EEA included one networking event for female founders at BETT and five workshops at major events like SETT Stockholm, EdTech Austria Summit, LETW, the Digital with Purpose Summit in Cascais, and the Bildungsfestival in Vienna. The focus of these workshops was on building trust within the EdTech sector through evidence and partnerships.

To provide key stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of the EdTech landscape, the EEA and project partners worked on three large publications:

First report on the State of Play of EdTech & the European EdTech Ecosystem (published in January 2024)
Second report on the State of Play of EdTech & the European EdTech Ecosystem (forthcoming, expected to be published in January 2025)
The first version of the European EdTech Ecosystem Roadmap: Towards Excellence in Educational Innovation

Moreover, EmpowerED partners developed resources to help EdTech organisations overcome the challenges related to the fragmentation of the European education markets:

Guidelines Navigating the EdTech Landscape: From Product Quality Development to Business Success in the EU Market
MOOC: Navigate EdTech – Choosing Wisely for Learners (forthcoming, expected to be published in January 2025)

Responding to skills needs voiced by EdTech startups and developers responding through the European EdTech Map surveys, EmpowerED partners also developed a set of guidelines focusing on validating EdTech solutions with target groups and another one on improving the understanding and application of research throughout the EdTech development process (forthcoming, expected to be published in January 2025) as well as a MOOC focusing on entrepreneurial skills for EdTech organisations.

A third set of outputs is focused on equipping educators with the skills of becoming pedagogical mentors: This includes a dedicated MOOC and complementary guidelines that both will be launched in January 2025.

Find out more about the project here: EmpowerED

Female EdTech Fellowship

In 2024, the Female EdTech Fellowship welcomed 22 new fellows from 12 countries, bringing our total to 75 inspiring alumnae since the programme’s inception in January of 2022

Among the highlights for 2022 has been the in-person retreat for Cohort 5, as well as the privilege of hosting some exceptional speakers, including Zara Zaman (Emerge), Ilana Jankovic (Rubio Impact Ventures), and Laura Warnier (formerly the Chief Growth Officer at GoStudent), who shared their insights and experiences with our community.

As we look ahead to 2025, we're excited to unveil a fresh new look and new tracks for the fellowship programme! For example, in early 2025, we will be launching our official Alumnae Network, inviting all past fellows to reconnect through engaging programming and in-person retreats. Registration for the alumnae network will be possible from January 6th until January 31st, 2025.

If you're interested in learning how to become a fellow or how to support our programming, connect with us on LinkedIn or reach out via email at programmes@edtecheurope.org.

Open Positions at the EEA

Join us as we engage with Europe’s education ecosystem and become part of the EEA Team - Check out our open positions here.

Save the Date!

22nd-24th January: BETT UK in London, UK - Check out the Agenda

Check out our members’ newsletters

European EdTech Alliance Update November 24

European Edtech Alliance — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 06:40:44 GMT

Connecting and collaborating

“In education, we are disconnected, fragmented and we work in small networks and this is something we need to take seriously.”

With these words, Borhene Chakroun, Director for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, UNESCO, opened the Annual Meeting of the Global Alliance on the Science of Learning in Paris last week. We have continued to see fundamental fragmentation as we explore topics of knowledge exchange and communication within the education ecosystem this year, especially within the EdTech Strategy Lab, around topics like evidence, trust and evaluation of EdTech. However, across all projects we’ve supported, we have also seen collaboration, connection and sharing across stakeholder groups and beyond geographical borders as we have experimented with new ways of bringing people together and creating understanding around important issues.

This month, we continued to engage with and support many key organisations across a series of ecosystem events and also highlighted important insights from our research projects published this year.

At the EEA, we firmly believe in connecting networks, building bridges to create new alliances, and learning from each others’ experiences to inform new action. Read on to hear more about how we are achieving that through:

our EdTech Strategy Lab event at UNESCO in Paris
insights from EEA research
event and validation reports
and news from EEA Members & other opportunities throughout Europe

- Beth Havinga

Managing Director, European Edtech Alliance

EdTech Strategy Labs - Empowering the Ecosystem

Last week, 130 EdTech leaders and practitioners gathered at UNESCO headquarters in Paris for the EdTech Strategy Lab: Empowering the Ecosystem event. Attendees were able to join a celebratory cocktail event sponsored by AWS and meet each other through a series of engaging networking formats. The following day highlighted key findings from a year of research and engagement, offering a platform to share diverse stakeholder perspectives.

Participants engaged in interactive sessions to identify challenges, brainstorm solutions, and explore opportunities for deeper collaboration around the topics of trust and evidence. We are grateful to our hosts and event partners, UNESCO, as well as the Jacobs Foundation for their generous support of this project in 2024.

We’re grateful for the inspiring discussions and meaningful insights of those who could join us. Stay tuned for our comprehensive report which will be shared on Friday—via our LinkedIn and website.

EmpowerED

Austria: Wiener Bildungsfestival

At this year’s Bildungsfestival in Vienna on November 27th, we joined forces with our Member EdTech Austria and facilitated a highly interactive workshop to validate recommendations from the EmpowerED Roadmap on building digitally competent schools. Topics of discussion included the need to provide comprehensive training to staff in school whenever new hardware or software is purchased; support for procurement decision-makers to make informed choices about EdTech purchases; and a need for national plans on how to involve schools in defining their digitalisation needs. Check out the full summary and our key findings here!

Find out more about the project here: Empo werED

Female EdTech Fellowship

We’re thrilled that the sixth cohort of the Female EdTech Fellowship is now in full swing, with participants already gaining invaluable insights from industry experts like Zara Zaman, Head of Platform at Emerge and Ilonka Janokwich, Partner at Rubio Impact Ventures. Fellows have also met with Louise Doherty, a leading executive coach, to discuss how female founders can communicate with clarity and confidence.

Looking ahead to next year, we’re eager to launch our 7th cohort next spring. Stay tuned for more details coming in January 2025! In the meantime, we invite you to connect with us via LinkedIn or email. If you know of a talented female founder who deserves a spot in the programme; have an inspiring speaker to recommend; or simply have questions about the fellowship - don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.

EEA Event Involvements

UNESCO Learning Sciences Event

The Annual Meeting of the Global Alliance on the Science of Learning took place on Monday the 2nd of December. As a founding member of the alliance, the EEA was excited to be a part of the work again.

Over two days, global leaders, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners got together and discussed this year’s theme: “Building Bridges to Transform Learning.” This theme resonates deeply with our mission: bridging research, policy, and practice to ensure educational technologies are grounded in evidence and designed for meaningful impact. Make sure to look at the report from last year’s meeting!

Women in EdTech Networking at BETT UK

Calling all women in EdTech! Join us again this year, alongside our partner BETT UK, at the Innovation Theatre on 23 January 2025 at 17:05 to celebrate women in EdTech!

Want to come along? Get your ticket here!

Other News & Opportunities

Bett UK 2025

Wondering if your dream customers will be attending Bett UK 2025?

Our partners, Bett UK, have created a valuable Audience Breakdown Report which highlights the impressive reach and impact for exhibitors who attended Bett UK 2024. Bett UK 2024 saw a whopping 46,694 visitors from 129 countries, that’s 14,000 buyers responsible for over 65 million learners!

Bett UK 2025 is set to be the biggest show yet, as they celebrate four decades of educational excellence at the ExCeL, London from 22-24 January 2025. With world-leading exhibitors and educators in one inspiring location, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Don't forget to register for your ticket!

Insights from EEA

Deep Dive 2

Who needs evidence in EdTech? What is driving them to want it or need it?

We recently published the second edition of the EdTech Strategy Labs Deep Dive series, and this publication explores:

How each type of certification or evaluation of EdTech contributes to a comprehensive evidence ecosystem
Why key gaps in addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders are emerging
The complex motivations, goals, and skillsets driving the demand for evidence in EdTech

To help better understand how to address these issues, we have delved into some of the complex interactions of key stakeholders, discussing their different motivations, goals, skillsets and, most importantly, their needs.

Read the full report here 👉https://www.edtechstrategylab.org/deep-dives

Understanding a comprehensive evidence ecosystem

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You can read the full blog post from the EdTech Strategy Lab here.

Why Unplugging Isn’t the Answer: The Basic Skills Europe Cannot Ignore

by Jannie Jeppesen

The past few years have been nothing short of tumultuous for education. Across the globe, schools responded to lockdowns with what can only be described as a "shock digitalisation." Amid this upheaval, we’ve seen worrying trends: declining literacy, numeracy, and science results in PISA assessments, a growing wave of mobile phone bans across Europe, and now the ICILS report, which shatters the myth that young people, simply because they’ve grown up with smartphones and the internet, automatically possess strong digital skills. They do not.

Read the full article from our First Chair here!

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EEA Newsblast: ICILS study results

Beth Havinga — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 07:01:05 GMT

Successes and Surprises:
How European countries are responding to the ICILS results

The most recent results from the 2023 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) reveals a complex landscape of digital literacy across 35 education systems internationally. ICILS is an international, large-scale assessment that focuses on digital literacy education by assessing eighth grade students. Conducted every five years, the study monitors students’ Computer and Information Literacy (CIL) and Computational Thinking (CT) being able to address achievement over time. The 2023 ICILS study collected high-quality data from more than 130,000 students and more than 60,000 teachers.

The results from the 2023 study show that eighth-grade students around the world are using Information and Computer Technology (ICT) more and more as the years progress, but digital literacy achievement scores have not been increasing to match(1). Whilst we must take the period of global lockdowns and challenges associated with the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the study highlights not only the differences in digital literacy, but also showcases each country’s unique attitudes and approaches toward ICT in education. The study therefore offers valuable insights into the challenges and next steps for their respective educational systems.

Some of the key international take aways include the fact that female students outperformed male students in CIL globally, while generally CIL skills decreased between 2013 and 2023, the digital divide remains prominent, more than half of all students on average are operating below proficiency at a very basic level, and students are learning about internet-related topics more frequently outside of school(2).

Participating again this year were Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany (as a benchmarking group), Italy, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Portugal, Uruguay and the United States. Participating for the first time and enabling a broader, international comparison were Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium (Flemish), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Country Averages and Distribution for Computer and Information Literacy

The EEA is not only interested in the results, but also in the reactions that are shown to them, the way in which countries and ministries are planning on addressing some of the main issues, and higher-level connections that can lead to supranational recommendations. Below, we comparatively explore some of the reactions and results of ICILS 2023 with a focus on Europe.

The use of ICT and provision of digital infrastructure

One important cultural element to consider when evaluating the results are the differences in access and their impact on the 2023 study. Leading far above the international average, South Korea attributes their outstanding ICILS results to a strong commitment to integrating ICT in schools and at home as well as the students’ relatively unrestricted access to digital devices outside of school supplemented with robust digital citizenship programmes(3).

Conversely in Spain, reports suggest a correlation between their positive results and the fact that Spanish parents tend to restrict screen time of their children on school days more than other European parents(4).

Similarly, there seems to be a direct correlation between access to technology and their results in most countries. Those with strong educational infrastructures and early integration of ICT in curricula tend to perform better. For Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands this trend suggests that well-developed infrastructure and early ICT exposure may contribute to higher digital literacy levels. Others, like France, reported proudly that students' performance in digital literacy was less linked to access to certain IT resources than in other countries(5).

In Hungary, students with more or consistent access to a computer for schoolwork scored significantly higher, suggesting additionally that the role of family support is important, and perhaps reflecting the country's strategic investments in digital education between 2017 and 2020(6). This is interesting in the face of the digital bans that Hungary put in place this summer(7).

Challenges for students

Flemish students in Belgium rank among the top in digital literacy, only slightly behind countries like South Korea, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic(8). However, notably, a significant portion of students struggle to critically assess online information. In fact, despite the impressive results, three-quarters of Flemish students find it difficult to navigate online texts critically, an area of concern given the increasing importance of digital literacy in information evaluation(9). Furthermore, 67% of Flemish students admitted to multitasking—such as texting or watching videos—while studying(10). This has led Flanders news to claim that Flemish pupils excel in their computer skills, but are consuming too much online(11).

Spanish reports are celebratory and claim that “Spanish students handle computers better than their European peers(12).”However, Spanish students still lag behind leading nations like South Korea by the equivalent of nearly a full school year.

Generally, a number of European countries showed a downward trend in their scores. The majority of countries with results which declined or were showing tendencies towards lower percentages of competencies were quick to suggest that these results were completely in line with the international average in order to relativise the outcomes. For example the French national ministry of education states: “Student results in France are in line with the European Union average in digital literacy and higher in computational thinking”(13).

Similarly, Latvian reports state that their low computer literacy scores are comparable with Finland and Hungary whilst their overall scores are higher than the international average(14).

These results must be a call to action and an opportunity to learn from each other as we explore solutions addressing the general increase in use of technology with a decrease in skills for practically engaging with issues like disinformation or targeted campaigns.

Levels of CIL proficiency, 2023 ICILS results

The myth of the digital native and a focus on language support

In Austria, news reports on the ICILS results, classified them as ‘sad’ and challenged the notion of "digital natives" stating that “just because young people use their mobile phones intensively every day, for example, does not mean that they are also acquiring the digital skills required for the 21st century (15).”

This sentiment is echoed by Norway’s director of the directorate of education saying, “today's youth live digital lives. But that does not mean that they have mastered the computer as a tool (16).” Statements from the German release of the ICILS report take this further this by claiming that “40% of the youth can only click and swipe (17)”.

The languages spoken at home, if they were not the language of the country, also seemed to make a significant impact on these social differences in multiple countries. For example, educational inequality is discussed as a major issue, particularly affecting students from migrant backgrounds or those who do not speak the respective country’s main languages at home.

A widening digital divide and significant gender differences

The ICILS results also highlighted the impact of socioeconomic factors on digital competencies and a widening digital divide in some countries. Italy, for example, whilst boasting a result higher than the international average, shows enormous differences and a significant divide between the north and the south of the country (18). Austria also found the differences between states to be greater than those between the nation as a whole and neighbouring countries (19).

Slovenian educators have shown concern about the growing disparity among students based on socioeconomic background, though differences between schools remain minimal. This stability in school equality is seen as a positive aspect, suggesting that Slovenia has a relatively equitable educational system despite the overall decline in competency scores. The high level of equity of the Spanish school system stands out, with fewer differences in the results showing between rich and poor (20).

Norway, known for its ambition to be the most digital country globally by 2030 (21), has been confronted with 40% of ninth graders scoring at the lowest levels of digital competence. Despite students’ high rates of digital use, their skills are declining, especially among those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Norwegian policymakers emphasise the need for planned, quality digital education rather than unstructured access to technology (23).

Sweden reflected these numbers with four out of ten students lacking the ability to evaluate the credibility, relevance and usefulness of information - a skill set fundamental to safe digital citizenship and participation (24).

In the majority of participating countries, girls outperform boys in digital literacy, with some reports suggesting this is due to the large amount of text used in these questions (25). This gap, however, is generally inverted when it comes to the scores for computational thinking. It will be important to understand the factors influencing these differences and implement ways of creating more equality and ensuring the gender and socioeconomic divides don’t deepen.

The important role of teacher satisfaction and preparedness

An indicator of success in achieving a high score for the study seems to be the level of satisfaction that teachers have with ICT resources and support. For example, only 13% of Czech teachers feel they lack technical support, and a mere 22% report insufficient equipment—remarkably low numbers compared to international averages displayed in the ICILS report (26).

Reflecting a paradox where digital readiness and scepticism coexist and despite the optimism regarding ICT infrastructure, Czech teachers remain divided on the educational impact of technology. Many are sceptical about ICT’s influence on learning, with three-quarters suggesting it may harm students' written expression and encourage shallow engagement through copying. Interestingly, only half of Czech teachers believe that ICT improves academic performance (27).

Looking forward in reaction to the results

Moving forward, a common theme is emerging: the need for strategic, well-planned digital education policies that transcend simple technology integration, aiming instead to foster critical, applicable digital skills across diverse student and educator populations. This is reflected in the reactions of multiple countries. Although the results have only just come out, some countries have already made suggestions for necessary changes.

For example, Norway’s Minister of digitisation, citing a need for a balanced approach and to improve access to future work environments, are calling for a new subject just focussing on technology and related skills (28). In the Flemish education system, on the other hand, whilst also addressing the need for increased skills acquisition, there is a call to approach the issues they have identified by integrating critical digital literacy and computational thinking more deeply into the curriculum, to focus on support through ICT infrastructure and policy, and providing targeted support for students from non-Dutch-speaking households (29).

Similarly, in Austria, strengthening digital competencies within the curriculum and teacher training programs to ensure teachers can teach these topics masterfully are seen as the lever to improvement (30). Addressing these gaps, Austria intends to prioritise digital literacy in teacher education and move away from assumptions about inherent digital skills among young people.

In Sweden, the School Minister’s response to the poor results for Swedish students is to focus on basic skills first "Digital competence requires that students have basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Schools must set the right priorities; we need to focus on foundational skills first before students can develop digital competence (31)." In response, the Swedish EdTech Industry states that to develop digital competence requires purposeful and well-structured instruction and to achieve this, both short-term and long-term plans are needed (32).

In proactively identifying possible areas for development, Germany’s educators and policymakers are prioritising the integration of digital skills training for students, with suggestions of modernising classroom technology and improving teacher support. Furthermore, there is a discussion around bridging the gap between students’ everyday digital experiences and their formal education by creating relevant, modern learning environments that better prepare students for a digital world (33).

It will be imperative to develop systems that enable teacher preparedness and satisfaction, focus on skills development, look into decreasing the digital divide and socioeconomic issues as well as identifying pathways towards equality in systems. It is essential that our students and educators feel empowered in their use of digital technologies and ability to feel safe in their use. Otherwise, the European skills goals set in the European Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan to have a maximum of 15% of 14 year olds below competence level two as it is described in ICILS appear very far away.

Read the full international report on ICILS here.

Find the national reports on the outcomes relative to individual countries here.

References

(1), (2) https://www.iea.nl/sites/default/files/2024-10/ICILS%202023-International-Press-Release.pdf

(3) https://news.koreaherald.com/common/newsprint.php?ud=20241112050741

(4) https://www.todoalicante.es/english/spanish-students-handle-computers-20241112091152-nt.html

(5) https://www.education.gouv.fr/icils-2023-les-resultats-des-eleves-en-france-sont-dans-la-moyenne-de-l-union-europeenne-en-415717

(6) https://hungarytoday.hu/hungarian-students-excel-in-digital-literacy/

(7) https://dailynewshungary.com/list-of-items-banned-from-hungarian-schools/#google_vignette

(8), (9), (11) https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2024/11/12/flemish-pupils-excel-in-computer-skills-but-swallow-too-much-on/

(10) https://www.belganewsagency.eu/flemish-students-rank-among-top-in-digital-skills

(12) https://www.todoalicante.es/english/spanish-students-handle-computers-20241112091152-nt.html

(13) https://www.education.gouv.fr/icils-2023-les-resultats-des-eleves-en-france-sont-dans-la-moyenne-de-l-union-europeenne-en-415717

(14) https://www.baltictimes.com/international_computer_and_information_literacy_study_rates_latvian_students__skills_on_high_level/

(15) https://www.diepresse.com/19060948/studie-rechnet-ab-mit-kindern-und-dem-mythos-digital-natives

(16) https://www.utdanningsnytt.no/digital-kompetanse-icils-teknologi/digital-undersokelse-4-av-10-niendeklassinger-scorer-pa-laveste-niva/421687

(17) https://orf.at/stories/3375743/

(18) https://sapere.virgilio.it/scuola/mondo-scuola/competenze-digitali-studenti-italiani-da-record-gap-nord-sud

(19)https://www.diepresse.com/19060948/studie-rechnet-ab-mit-kindern-und-dem-mythos-digital-natives

(20) https://www.todoalicante.es/english/spanish-students-handle-computers-20241112091152-nt.html

(21) https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/c499c3b6c93740bd989c43d886f65924/en-gb/pdfs/digitaliseringsstrategi_eng.pdf

(22) https://www.utdanningsnytt.no/digital-kompetanse-icils-teknologi/digital-undersokelse-4-av-10-niendeklassinger-scorer-pa-laveste-niva/421687

(23) https://tv.nrk.no/serie/dagsnytt-atten-tv/sesong/202411/episode/NNFA56111224

(24) https://via.tt.se/pressmeddelande/3684536/fyra-av-tio-elever-i-arskurs-8-saknar-viktig-digital-kompetens?publisherId=743270&lang=sv

(25) https://www.utdanningsnytt.no/digital-kompetanse-icils-teknologi/digital-undersokelse-4-av-10-niendeklassinger-scorer-pa-laveste-niva/421687

(26), (27) https://archiv-nuv.npi.cz/vystupy/cesti-zaci-zabodovali-v-ict-gramotnosti.html

(28) https://tv.nrk.no/serie/dagsnytt-atten-tv/sesong/202411/episode/NNFA56111224

(29) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jan-de-craemer-8a84883_icils2023-onderwijsinnovatie-digitalevaardigheden-activity-7262035539535581186-s7cc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

(30) https://orf.at/stories/3375743/

(31) https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2024/11/digitala-verktyg-i-skolan-leder-inte-automatiskt-till-battre-digitala-fardigheter-visar-ny-undersokning/

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