Number 17 - October 2022 European Edtech Alliance update
News from the world of European Edtech
Hello, and welcome to October’s European Edtech News!
Today we want to share our latest news with you: our new position paper on Open Educational Resources (OER), our policy work, the EdTech Next Summit and the upcoming HolonIQ Global Impact Summits.
EdTech Next Summit
We spent three exciting days with innovative people, listening to great panel discussions and having countless interesting conversations. We’d like to thank EDUvation for creating such a great meeting and learning atmosphere. We are happy to have met a lot of different stakeholders of the edtech ecosystem during the Summit and in case you didn’t make it, do not miss it next year!
Next EEA Partner Event: The HolonIQ Global Impact Summits
We are very happy to be represented in the Education Track of the HolonIQ Global Impact Summits next month across the 4 European Summits. Join us for some high level conversations and to connect with other European leaders.
Let’s meet in London on November 16th, Paris on November 22nd, Berlin on November 24th, Stockholm in November 29th.
Register now: https://summits.holoniq.com/
EEA Position paper: The results promised by Open Educational Resources are yet to be proven
Open Educational Resources (OER) have become a critical part of the education discourse and political actions within Europe. As a direct effect of signing the UNESCO recommendations for OER, there have been increased activities in this field by multiple governments and authorities. In order to ensure a stable, quality-driven, independent ecosystem, it is vital to address the topics of regulation and governance, the alignment of OER strategies to key European initiatives, the preservation of quality innovation, the hidden costs of free resources, and the consequences for educators and learning communities if additional responsibilities are required or quality assurance mechanisms are not in place.
By highlighting both risks and chances, the European Edtech Alliance intends to inform decision makers and policy makers in the creation and implementation of policies with this policy paper, which support the responsible, future-proofed, quality-driven development and usage of learning resources and the implementation of OER. Read it here!
EEA’s policy involvement
The European Edtech Alliance is taking part of three major EdTech projects of the European Commission this year: the EdTech round table of commissioner Gabriel, the education stakeholder forum and the development of the New Ukrainian School Hub.
The 3rd EdTech roundtable with Ms Gabriel will happen on the 8th of November.
The New Ukrainian School Hub gathers information, resources, and knowledge for Ukrainian refugees no matter where they are. If you want to be part of the Ukrainian Support Initiative go to: https://nushub.org/en/
AI in Education
On the 25th of October, the European Commission published its guidelines for AI in education. This follows the publication from the Council of Europe, which takes a human-centric approach to view AI in education through the lens of democracy, law and human rights. Both these documents are seen as additional aspects to be considered supplementary to the proposed EU AI act, which is now in its last draft form.
Female Edtech Fellowship cohort 2 meets near Paris
Cohort 2 of our Female Edtech Fellowship gathered near Paris this week-end. 13 amazing founders are part of this cohort: Aleksandra Kozera (The Village Network), Sylvie Milverton (Lynx Educate), Stine Schulz (Learningbank), Catherine de Vulpillières (EvidenceB), Cristina Angelillo (Marshmallow Games), Sara Zetterberg (Haldor), Ingrid Skrede (Ludenso), Jurgita Jaruševičienė (MOKOSI), Aude Guéneau (Plume), Miriam Mertens (DeepSkill GmbH), Diana Knodel (fobizz), Mervi Palander (GraphoGame), Elia Barahona Márquez (ClassOnLive)
If you are a female founder, apply for cohort 3 here.
EdTech Map
Our mission is to gather all European EdTech Start-ups on the European Edtech Map, to help investors and Edtech buyers find Edtech solutions from Europe more easily. Fill out this form and get on the EdTech Map! If you are already there, help us to spread the word and unite the European ecosystem.
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS
FUND-RAISING
UK-based Zen Educate, a marketplace matching schools with teachers, raised 21m € to fuel their U.S. expansion
UK Department for Education pledges up to 5.5m € to fund Coding Boot Camps with edX
London-based Blackbullion raised 2.8m € to support young people with better financial well-being.
German ubiMaster raised a 2.5m € seed round to offer Maths and Physics tutoring for a monthly flat-rate.
French Revyze received 2m € in funding to build the “TikTok of educational videos”
Italian Futura raised 1.8m € to propose personalised study paths for individual students by artificial intelligence.
Swedish Meitner, an administration and learning platform for schools, raised 1.5m € to work on customer feedback and improving the platform.
Norwegian Ludenso raised 1m € to create an augmented reality universe for education.
Portuguese Networkme raised a 1m € seed to help young people choose the right career to follow up with companies looking for their specific skills match.
French Nabook raised 600,000 € to become the "Netflix of children's literature"
UK-based Purlos raised 515k € for its platform for post-16 learner engagement.
Acquisitions
Eduki acquired the Startup PearUp to inspire teachers to create and share interactive teaching materials.
Lego’s Parent Company acquired video animation Edtech BrainPOP for around 885m €.
Finnish Studeo, a pioneer in electronic learning materials, has sold its majority stake to the German Klett Group.
Nuclio Digital School joins forces with Talent Garden to build a new track of future-proof learning experiences for individuals and organisations, in Spain and beyond.
Sandberg Capital acquired majority stake in Hungary's Green Fox Academy, which organises coding bootcamps.
OTHER MEMBER UPDATES
The EEA is happy to welcome the Campus Founders as the newest member of our group. We are looking forward to having you on board.
Annie Advisor won the pitch competition at the recent EduTech Europe event in Amsterdam.
Several Finnish education innovations have been highlighted in the HundrED Global Collection 2023 including KiVa antibullying program, Qridi and Teachease by Code School Finland.
🇩🇪 For German startups 🇩🇪 Apply to the EdTech Next Incubator! Interested startups can apply for the program via this page until November 6th, 23:59 CET.
The selected founders will get a 12-month, hybrid program with top mentors and experts from the startup and EdTech scene. No costs and no equity. The program starts on November 22, 2022 in Bielefeld.
Upcoming Events
14th-18th November: Week of VocTech A free programme of in-person and online events exploring the role of digital technology in vocational training and celebrating its impact on learners, employers, training providers and society as a whole. More here!
20th November: The 2022 Learning Engineering Tools Competition The Tools Competition is one of the largest philanthropic #edtech competitions in the world, awarding more than $3 million in awards this year with a particular interest in solutions supporting Pre-K through secondary learners focused on Assessment, Accelerating Learning, Learning Science Research, and Teacher Development. Apply here!
16th December: Virtual pre-launch event of the E2030 Curriculum Analysis from 10:45 to 12:45 (CET), featuring the 5th report of the E2030 series: “Curriculum flexibility and autonomy for thriving students and teachers”.
You can find more member-related events here!
Are you interested in country-specific news? Check out these 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.