EUROPEAN EDTECH POLICY MAP
5.1. Opportunities for learning and (knowledge) exchange among stakeholders
5.1.4 Promote cross-country knowledge exchange on evidence building
Summary of suggested actions
Strengthen mechanisms for structured, cross-country knowledge exchange on EdTech evidence by creating interoperable platforms, shared taxonomies, and sustainable communities of practice linking policymakers, researchers, educators, and innovators. Build on existing EU and international initiatives to establish coordinated data-sharing standards, align evaluation frameworks, and reduce fragmentation in evidence generation and dissemination.
Description
Knowledge production and exchange within the European EdTech ecosystem remain fragmented and uneven. Although multiple actors such as public authorities, EdTech associations, research institutions, and multilateral bodies, collect and disseminate information, there is no consolidated mechanism ensuring that evidence, good practice, and policy insights are systematically shared across borders. Existing repositories and initiatives, such as the European Digital Education Hub, the Joint Research Centre’s knowledge-building activities, and national EdTech evaluations, operate in isolation or with limited interoperability.
This fragmentation results in duplication of effort, inconsistent evidence standards, and unequal access to relevant data. Start-ups and SMEs in particular often lack access to validated findings or practical implementation insights, while policymakers and educators struggle to identify comparable evidence of impact. Consequently, learning from successful national or regional initiatives is hindered, and scaling proven approaches across Member States becomes difficult. A lack of shared knowledge infrastructure also impedes coordination between research and market development, which weakens Europe’s collective capacity to generate and apply evidence-based innovation in education.
Major enabling factors
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Existence of EU-level mechanisms that promote cooperation and data exchange, including the European Digital Education Hub.
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Increasing policy attention to evidence-informed practice, as reflected in the Council Conclusions on evidence-informed policy and practice in education and training (Council of the European Union, 2024).
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Expanding networks of ecosystem organisations such as the European EdTech Alliance, which facilitate peer-to-peer exchange between national clusters.
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Growing demand from funding bodies (e.g., Horizon Europe, Erasmus+) for knowledge dissemination and open-access outputs, encouraging structured sharing.
Major roadblocks
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Absence of a central, sustained knowledge repository integrating research, policy outputs, and market data specific to EdTech.
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Lack of common evidence standards and taxonomies, leading to incompatible reporting formats and difficulties comparing results.
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Limited incentives and financial resources for organisations to document and share lessons learned, particularly for SMEs.
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Fragmented data governance frameworks and varying interpretations of data-protection rules (e.g., GDPR) that restrict cross-border sharing of educational data.
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Language barriers and differing national terminologies that complicate dissemination and translation of findings.
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Short project funding cycles that end before knowledge transfer mechanisms are institutionalised.
Suggested action:
WHO (Potential actors)
European Commission (DG EAC, DG Connect, JRC), UNESCO, European Schoolnet, European EdTech Alliance, European Training Foundation (ETF), national ministries of education, and EdTech research consortia
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WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)Develop a coordinated European framework and community of practice for evidence sharing in EdTech that consolidates research, evaluation results, and policy insights across Member States and aligns with international standards​
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HOW (Suggested activities)
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Establish a European evidence exchange network under the Digital Education Action Plan or European Digital Education Hub to interconnect national evidence repositories and testbeds.
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Develop common metadata standards and evidence taxonomies to ensure interoperability of evaluation data across countries and research projects.
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Integrate existing initiatives (e.g., European Schoolnet’s Living Labs, UNESCO’s Global Alliance on the Science of Learning for Education, and ETF communities of practice) into a shared European knowledge infrastructure.
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Introduce open-access publication and translation mechanisms for national evaluation results to enhance comparability and reuse of evidence.
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Fund regular cross-country evidence fora bringing together educators, researchers, policymakers, and EdTech developers to exchange findings and co-create research agendas.
Existing steps in the right direction
UNESCO’s Global Alliance on the Science of Learning for Education
UNESCO’s Global Alliance on the Science of Learning for Education brings together researchers, policymakers, educators and EdTech-actors in a globally coordinated “community of practice” with the explicit purpose of consolidating fragmented research on human learning and translating it into evidence-informed education policy and practice. The inaugural statement emphasises convergence of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, two-way dialogue between scientists and practitioners, and networking and capacity strengthening for better knowledge production and uptake.
The alliance connects researchers, policymakers and practitioners to improve the translation of learning sciences into education policy and practice. It is intended to be an independent scientific voice within international education forums and to function as a community of practice open to institutional and individual members. The Alliance convenes expert meetings, produces policy-relevant publications, and fosters collaboration across disciplines and regions. For example, its 2023 expert meeting on leveraging learning sciences for education produced a synthesis report informing policy discussions on the global learning crisis. The first annual meeting in December 2024 at UNESCO headquarters marked a step towards institutionalising these exchanges and establishing mechanisms for sustained knowledge sharing.
The Alliance is still in an early implementation phase and evidence of measurable system-level change is limited. While it has successfully convened international expertise and initiated dialogue on knowledge translation, there is as yet little proof of structural integration between research outcomes and classroom or EdTech practice. The challenge of ensuring that scientific findings influence market-driven and policy-based educational innovation remains significant
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Specific support required to achieve the Goal:
To leverage this Alliance for the European EdTech ecosystem, the group would need to establish a dedicated European-node or working group, adopt open and interoperable knowledge-sharing protocols, ensure multilingual dissemination of outputs, and create more inclusive pathways for European EdTech firms, educators and policy-makers to both contribute to and access the knowledge base from a baseline of true collaboration and not proving superior knowledge.
European Training Foundation (ETF)
The ETF, an EU agency focusing on skills development in EU neighbourhood countries, coordinates communities of practice connecting policymakers, educators, and innovators across Europe and adjacent regions. Its Innovation and Skills Development initiatives integrate knowledge from both formal education and labour market sectors, promoting transferable models of cross-border learning.
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Specific support required to achieve the Goal:
ETF’s model could be adapted to include EdTech-specific learning ecosystems, allowing for stronger linkage between education innovation and digital product validation processes across Europe
EdTech Evidence Exchange (UK)
Although national in scope, the EdTech Evidence Exchange (supported by Nesta and the UK Department for Education) creates structured mechanisms for educators to share implementation evidence of EdTech tools. It crowdsources user experiences, translates them into actionable insights for developers and policymakers, and builds a shared evidence infrastructure
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Specific support required to achieve the Goal:
Developing a European equivalent or interoperability layer to connect such evidence exchanges across Member States would significantly improve mutual learning, reduce duplication, and promote trust in EdTech decision-making processes.
European Schoolnet’s Future Classroom Lab and Living Lab Network
European Schoolnet’s Future Classroom Lab (FCL), and its affiliated Living Labs and Teacher Academy, provide physical and virtual environments for co-creation, piloting, and peer learning between educators, researchers, and EdTech developers. The FCL methodology promotes transparent documentation and dissemination of experiments, thereby strengthening the evidence base for EdTech use in classrooms.
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Specific support required to achieve the Goal:
A stronger integration of national EdTech evaluation frameworks and open data-sharing protocols would ensure that insights from these pilots feed systematically into European-level decision-making and market readiness mechanisms.