EUROPEAN EDTECH POLICY MAP
2.1. Policy and funding for EdTech providers
2.1.2 Promote cross-ministerial coordination
Summary of suggested actions
Promoting cross-ministerial coordination and establishing clear points of responsibility for EdTech within national governments to improve coherence, reduce duplication, and align education, innovation, and digitalisation policies.
Description
The development and governance of education technology in Europe frequently involve multiple ministries. Often, these fall between those responsible for education, research, digitalisation, and economic affairs. However, in many Member States, coordination between these entities remains limited, resulting in fragmented policy implementation, overlapping initiatives, and inconsistent support for EdTech innovation and adoption.
Cross-ministerial coordination mechanisms can strengthen coherence between education, technology, and innovation policies by clarifying mandates, aligning funding priorities, and promoting long-term strategic planning. This approach also ensures that digital education initiatives are embedded in broader innovation and digital transition agendas, thereby linking pedagogical objectives with economic and social development goals.
Designating a clear governmental body or inter-ministerial council responsible for digital education and EdTech, ideally with representation from both public and private stakeholders, can support more consistent policymaking. Such coordination helps ensure that investments in infrastructure, training, research, and regulation are mutually reinforcing rather than isolated efforts.
The European Commission can play a facilitating role by promoting governance models that encourage whole-of-government approaches, knowledge sharing, and harmonised monitoring mechanisms across Member States.
Major enabling factors
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The Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027) explicitly calls for strengthened governance and cross-sector coordination in implementing digital education strategies.
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The Digital Decade Policy Programme and National Digital Decade Strategic Roadmaps offer a structured framework for Member States to align sectoral digitalisation plans, including education.
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In several Member States, advisory boards or councils (e.g. for AI or digital skills) already convene multiple ministries, providing an institutional precedent for similar mechanisms in education
Major roadblocks
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Unclear mandates between ministries of education, innovation, and digitalisation often lead to duplication or policy gaps.
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Many task forces or working groups dissolve after projects conclude, limiting long-term policy impact.
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Differing terminologies, funding criteria, and timelines between ministries hinder joint planning.
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Educators, researchers, and EdTech associations are not consistently involved in inter-ministerial planning processes
Suggested action:
Include EdTech in existing innovation policy strategies
WHO (Potential actors)
European Commission (DG EAC, DG Connect, DG GROW), Council of the European Union (Education and Competitiveness configurations), national ministries of education, innovation, digitalisation, and finance.
WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)
Establish permanent inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms for EdTech governance within Member States, supported by EU guidance and shared policy frameworks
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HOW (Suggested activities)
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Encourage Member States to designate a national lead body or digital education coordinator responsible for inter-ministerial EdTech governance.
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Develop an EU guidance note on best practices in EdTech governance, illustrating effective coordination models (e.g. cross-ministerial councils or national digital education boards).
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Link the Digital Education Action Plan implementation to the Digital Decade national reporting structure to ensure alignment across ministries.
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Fund pilot projects to test inter-ministerial coordination models under Erasmus+ Policy Experimentation or Horizon Europe partnerships.
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Include EdTech as a standing agenda item in EU Education Ministers’ and Digital Ministers’ Councils to encourage regular dialogue
Existing steps in the right direction
Estonia’s Digital Education Governance Model
Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research leads the implementation of the Digital Agenda for Education, coordinated across ministries of economy and IT. This structure aligns policy, technical infrastructure, and teacher training within a single strategic framework. This shows how cross-ministerial coordination enables coherence between education, digital infrastructure, and innovation policies.
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Specific support required to achieve the Goal:
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Develop an EU-level framework for inter-ministerial coordination in digital education, disseminating best practices from leading Member States.
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Provide financial and technical assistance under Digital Europe and Erasmus+ Policy Support to establish or strengthen national coordination bodies.
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Integrate governance indicators into the monitoring of the Digital Education Action Plan to track cross-ministerial collaboration and accountability.
Public Private Partnership Guidelines
Existing resources outline practices for industry and the public sector working together and provide important suggestions for clarity in partnerships and collaboration. These include, for instance, the Guidelines for Public-Private Partnerships of the Council of Europe (2023), which aim to support equitable discussions among key stakeholder communities, and the European EdTech Alliance’s proposal on sustainable public-private partnerships (2022), which seeks to enable effective digital education tools by clearly outlining areas of joint responsibility and opportunity for all partners, as well as exploring communication methods.
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Specific support required to achieve the Goal:
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These, and related resources, could be locally adapted or extended to become European-wide support mechanisms.
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European Commission and European EdTech support organisations could promote and build on existing guidance for creating multi-stakeholder partnerships to develop European-wide resources that can be locally adapted or extended