European EdTech Alliance Update January 25
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.
Recommended Reading
AI in European Schools - Vodafone foundation study
It was our pleasure to attend the launch of the most recent Vodafone Foundation study into AI and youth presented at an EU parliament breakfast this month.
The study explores how students aged 12 to 17 across seven countries in Europe perceive AI in education. While ChatGPT is the most widely used tool (48% privately, 47% in schools), German students engage less with AI for adaptive learning. Most students (74%) see AI as crucial for career success, with Turkish students most convinced (85%). Support for AI learning mainly comes from peers (65%), and only 46% of students feel prepared for an AI-driven future, with low confidence in teachers’ AI competence. Views on AI are mixed: 55% see it as a fairer grading tool, but 46% fear discrimination, and 49% worry it will deepen educational inequality especially as 16% of European schools have banned AI entirely. Read on to find out more about the results.
Brighteye’s European EdTech Funding Report 2025
This report takes a deep dive into venture funding in the last 12 months across global and European EdTech. Don’t miss checking out their 8 key take-aways and reading the full report 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
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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.