On the 24th to 25th of October, the EEA helped facilitate the Council of Europe's second Working Conference on Regulating AI Systems in Education. The two-day event in Strasbourg gathered over a hundred experts and actors in AI and education to explore how we can create a legal instrument guiding the practice and development of AI systems.

The conference was attended by over 250 participants from 45 different countries, and all of these various points of views made the discussions incredibly interesting and productive. Throughout the two-day conference we heard from 13 keynote speakers and then organised the participants into smaller groups who all had an expert facilitator managing the discussions.

The European EdTech Alliance members and board met in Amsterdam and online, for the 2024 Annual General Meeting on October 4. It was generously hosted by Dutch EdTech and joined by 19 of our members. This significant event celebrated three successful years of collaboration and innovation within the Alliance. 

The European EdTech Alliance (EEA) has just released a report under the EmpowerED project that identifies 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.

The report is named ‘The European EdTech Ecosystem Roadmap: Towards Excellence in Educational Innovation’, and is a key output of the EmpowerED project, funded by the European Union. The findings have been gathered through research and interviews or workshops with key stakeholders from across the Ecosystem, including private and public actors, EdTech organisations, educators, researchers, and international institutions such as UNESCO, the European Commission, and the Council of Europe.

On September 10, 2024 the European EdTech Alliance (EEA) and the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) came together for an insightful webinar, moderated by Beth Havinga, Managing Director of the EEA. The session featured Daniel Wisniewski, Secretary General of EFEE, and Panagiotis Karamalis, EFEE member and School Leader of Palladio School in Greece, who shared their expertise on the digital transformation of education and the future of learning environments.

The European EdTech Alliance is proud to showcase the vibrant European EdTech ecosystem. Go to www.edtechmap.eu to explore:

• EdTech Organisations

• Investors, Accelerators, Incubators, Fellowships

• Testbeds

• Policy initiatives

Trust plays a crucial role in the development, selection and adoption of quality EdTech solutions. However, several challenges undermine this trust, including a general bias against technology and the private sector and the regulatory complexities of fragmented education systems. Recent in-person workshops through the EdTech Strategy Labs, held at the Global Education Coalition meeting at UNESCO in March, SETT Stockholm in April, and the EdTech Austria Summit in May, have highlighted some of the key issues facing trust and evidence.

We were honoured to participate in the Digital Education Dialogues event hosted by the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union with Beth Havinga holding the keynote on Trust, Data, and a pathway forward together. The two day event explored fundamental questions of trust between the public sector and industry and measures tht could facilitate cooperation between stakeholders.

The topics of how EdTech organisations and companies can increase trust in their products and solutions as well as how they can demonstrate their impact and effectiveness were a focus of our latest EEA Meets webinar. The European Edtech Alliance welcomed Alison Clark-Wilson, Professor of Digital Education, University College London, UK and Natalia I. Kucirkova, Professor of Reading and Early Childhood, University of Stavanger, Norway and The Open University, UK., two prominent researchers in their fields, who discussed the critical themes of trust and evidence in educational technology.

The EdTech Austria Summit, an annual event that brings together educators, EdTech organizations, founders, developers, public administration representatives, and researchers, was held on May 7 in Salzburg. As part of the Strategy Labs project, the European EdTech Alliance was invited this year to curate the official networking area, inviting participants to collectively identify challenges and solutions related to quality assurance in EdTech.

Key Takeaways from the EdTech Strategy Lab/EmpowerED workshop at SETT Stockholm

The workshop, a collaborative effort by the European EdTech Alliance (EEA) and its EmpowerED project partners, Ifous and OAMK, marked the second in-person gathering of the EdTech Strategy Lab series and aimed to gather stakeholder perspectives on challenges and opportunities related to quality assurance in EdTech.

This week, we were invited to the launch of the European Commission's midway review of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 (DEAP) in Brussels. It was a moment to reflect on progress, yet it underscored the urgency of our journey ahead. Are we doing enough to secure Europe's competitiveness? And do we need a digital strategy for education?

A review marking the half way point of the The Digital Education Plan of the European Commission took place on the 29th of April in Brussels. This event highlighted some of the key achievements, which have occurred in the past three years.

The European Parliament approved the Artificial Intelligence Act with overwhelming support, marking a significant milestone as the first major political entity to regulate AI. The main goal is to secure both European innovation and human rights. The act prohibits certain AI applications like algorithmic social scoring and exploitative practices while imposing strict regulations on high-risk AI systems used in areas like education and work. This is going to affect all companies, people and governments operating in Europe. So what is at stake here, from an educational perspective?

Don´t miss your chance to be part of the fourth annual Global Education Coalition meeting on Monday, 25 March from 09:00 to 18:30 in Paris.