4.1. Sustainable funding for spaces and structures for testing, trialling, co-creation

4.1.2 Sustain and expand testing environments

Summary of suggested actions

Develop a sustainable and interconnected European network of testing and evaluation environments that supports EdTech development from early-stage innovation through to implementation, ensuring that tools and services are pedagogically sound, evidence-based, and compliant with ethical and regulatory standards.

Description

A trustworthy and innovation-friendly digital education ecosystem requires access to stable, well-resourced, and methodologically robust testing environments. These include testbeds, strategy labs, certification hubs, and research-practice partnerships that enable EdTech organisations to co-design, pilot, and evaluate tools in authentic educational settings.
Currently, testing opportunities in Europe are fragmented, small-scale, and often project-based. Many operate without long-term financial security or cross-border coordination, which limits their capacity to generate comparable evidence and undermines scalability. Strengthening and expanding these environments across Europe for example through multi-year funding, harmonised standards, and coordinated infrastructure, would ensure that educators, researchers, and innovators can systematically collaborate on testing, validation, and ethical assurance.
Sustained investment would also reduce duplication, increase access for small and medium-sized EdTech enterprises, and ensure that evaluation results are transferable and aligned with the requirements of the EU AI Act, GDPR, and national education priorities. A networked ecosystem of evidence-oriented testing environments could accelerate the responsible adoption of effective EdTech tools and services, foster trust among educators and policymakers, and strengthen Europe’s position as a global leader in educational innovation.

Major enabling factors

• Existing infrastructures such as the Helsinki Education Hub, Ifous EdTest and the Swiss National EdTech Testbed Program provide proven models for evidence-based testing and can serve as nodes in a wider European network.

• The AI Act and Data Governance Act encourage structured testing environments that ensure transparency, accountability, and risk management—principles that align with education-specific needs.

• The Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027), Horizon Europe, and the Digital Europe Programme already prioritise innovation and capacity-building, offering mechanisms that can support multi-annual testbed funding.

• Demand for independent validation of AI systems creates a shared incentive for public and private actors to participate in controlled test environments

Major roadblocks

• Many testbeds rely on temporary project grants, creating instability and high staff turnover.

• The absence of shared European metrics for measuring educational impact, usability, and data compliance limits comparability.

• In Europe, testbeds are concentrated in a few Western and Northern European countries, leaving significant gaps in Central and Eastern Europe.

• Legal and ethical restrictions often make it difficult to use or exchange real classroom data for testing and validation.

• Few existing testbeds fully integrate educators, researchers, and developers in iterative co-creation processes.

Suggested action: Network of European testing and evaluation environments

WHO (Potential actors)

• European Commission (DG EAC, DG Connect) to coordinate EU-wide strategy and funding.

• National education ministries to integrate testing environments into national digital education plans.

• Existing testbeds, research centres, and EdTech alliances to share expertise and act as hubs for scaling

WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)Integrate EdTech as a priority domain within subsidised AI Develop and sustain a network of European testing and evaluation environments that support EdTech development from early-stage innovation to implementation, ensuring alignment with classroom realities and regulatory standard​

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HOW (Suggested activities)

• Provide multi-year funding to existing testing centres to ensure stability, with requirements to share best practices and expand reach.

• Create EU-level grants to establish new centres in underserved regions, encouraging cross-border collaboration.

• Simplify school access procedures for testing while ensuring compliance with data protection and safeguarding regulations.

• Develop European testing standards to ensure comparability of results across countries, that allow for the existence and development of localised frameworks and encompass a maturity model, which enables differentiation according to a company’s or product’s level of maturity.

• Introduce incentive-based models for schools and educators to participate in trials, including professional development credits and access to tested tools.

Existing steps in the right direction