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EUROPEAN EDTECH POLICY MAP

2.1. Policy and funding for EdTech providers

2.1.1 Integrate EdTech into broader digital and innovation policies

Summary of suggested actions
Ensure that EdTech is systematically integrated into Europe’s wider digital transformation and innovation policy frameworks — including digital transition goals, startup and SME support strategies, and AI implementation — to position education technology as a recognised driver of societal and economic innovation rather than an isolated niche.
Description
While education technology plays a crucial role in Europe’s digital transition, it is often addressed separately from national and EU-level digital and innovation strategies. This results in fragmented policymaking, with EdTech falling between education and innovation portfolios. Integration into broader frameworks such as the EU Digital Decade Policy Programme, the EU Startup and Scale-up Strategy, and national digital or AI strategies would ensure coherent support for EdTech innovation, scalability, and responsible governance.
 
Embedding EdTech within general innovation policy can also unlock access to funding and infrastructure currently reserved for other technology sectors (e.g. AI, HealthTech, or GreenTech). This would facilitate cross-sector collaboration, foster the growth of education-focused SMEs, and ensure alignment with broader EU policy objectives on competitiveness, skills, and digital sovereignty.
 
Crucially, integration into these frameworks must not only advance market growth but also ensure that innovation serves pedagogical and public purposes consistent with European values — including equity, inclusion, sustainability, and human rights.
Major enabling factors

  • Frameworks such as the Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe, and the EIC already contain mechanisms that could be extended to explicitly include education-focused digital innovation.

  • The Digital Education Action Plan (DEAP) 2021–2027 explicitly calls for stronger links between education and digital innovation policies, providing a foundation for cross-sector alignment.

  • The EU AI Act and European Data Strategy establish governance structures that could guide the responsible development of AI and data-driven tools in education.

  • Several Member States (e.g. Finland, Portugal, Estonia, and France) already link education to national digitalisation strategies, demonstrating viable governance models for broader adoption.

Major roadblocks
  • Responsibilities for EdTech are dispersed across ministries and EU directorates, leading to duplication and policy gaps.
  • Education-focused projects are often excluded from mainstream innovation programmes due to sectoral definitions.
  • Current funding structures tend to prioritise commercial scalability over pedagogical or social value.
    Translation of high-level policy to local contexts is often challenging.
Suggested action:
Include EdTech in existing innovation policy strategies
WHO (Potential actors)
European Commission (DG EAC, DG Connect, DG RTD, DG GROW), national ministries of education, innovation, and digitalisation, European Innovation Council (EIC), national innovation agencies, and EdTech alliances.
 
WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)
Mainstream EdTech into the design, funding, and evaluation frameworks of Europe’s digital and innovation policies, ensuring that education technology benefits from — and contributes to — cross-sector digital transformation.
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HOW (Suggested activities)
  • Include explicit references to education and EdTech in upcoming EU Digital Decade implementation reports and national digitalisation plans.
  • Ensure Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe calls systematically include eligibility for EdTech projects under innovation and AI funding strands (see EIC and the EIC accelerator programme as an example for future funding)
  • Integrate education-sector representatives into national AI Strategy advisory boards and European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs).
  • Create joint innovation roadmaps linking ministries of education and innovation to align funding priorities.
  • Develop mechanisms for cross-sector collaboration between EdTech SMEs and other digital industries (e.g. through innovation clusters or testbeds).
Existing steps in the right direction
Portugal’s National Digital Competence Initiative (INCoDe.2030)

INCoDe.2030 integrates digital skills, inclusion, and innovation under one national policy framework. It unites education, research, and economic ministries around shared digital objectives and supports EdTech experimentation and digital learning infrastructure. 

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

  • Provide support for similar integrated governance structures in other Member States through guidance documents.

European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator

The European Innovation Council (EIC), established under Horizon Europe, funds high-risk, high-impact innovations with strong market potential across multiple sectors. Through instruments such as the EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition, and EIC Accelerator, the Council supports the full innovation pipeline — from research to market deployment. Despite this broad scope, education-focused innovations remain underrepresented within EIC portfolios. Projects related to learning, teaching, and digital education currently account for only a small fraction of funded initiatives, reflecting a gap in how education technology is positioned within the EU’s innovation landscape.


EdTech often falls outside traditional innovation typologies that prioritise industrial technologies, deep tech, or healthcare, even though education technologies are critical to achieving Europe’s objectives for digital skills, inclusion, and human capital development (as outlined in the Digital Education Action Plan 2021–2027 and the Digital Decade Policy Programme). Expanding EIC’s thematic scope to include education as a recognised innovation domain would better align innovation funding with Europe’s strategic goals for the digital transition and lifelong learning.

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

  • Introduce education and human capital innovation as a thematic category in future EIC work programmes, ensuring EdTech is recognised as a key contributor to digital and social innovation.

  • Develop evaluation criteria that measure pedagogical impact, inclusion, and societal value alongside commercial viability.

  • Strengthen links between the EIC Accelerator and other EU programmes (e.g. Digital Europe and Erasmus+) to provide complementary funding for education innovation.

  • Encourage the creation of EIC-backed EdTech cohorts or dedicated “Education Innovation Challenges” to stimulate targeted investment in learning technologies aligned with European values.

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