European EdTech Alliance Update February '25
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
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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.