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EUROPEAN EDTECH POLICY MAP

2.2. Skills and knowledge for building and running successful EdTech tools and services

2.2.1 Provide guidance for EdTech providers

Summary of suggested actions
Create dedicated, sustainable resources and systems that support EdTech providers, particularly SMEs and startups—in navigating localisation, compliance, procurement, and scaling across Europe. This includes accessible documentation and coordinated guidance on national requirements, data protection, and interoperability.
Description
While many national and European initiatives provide structured guidance for educators, schools, and public authorities on digital transformation and procurement, similar support for EdTech developers remains scarce and fragmented. In other sectors such as eHealth, guidelines and support resources are provided through ministries and data protection agencies. A lack of clarity regarding responsibilities for the EdTech market, however, means that similar documentation is not provided for EdTech developers. Early-stage EdTech companies often lack access to clear, up-to-date information on local procurement rules, interoperability requirements, or compliance expectations, for example, related to the GDPR, resulting in inefficiencies and uneven quality across markets.
Providing structured, Europe-wide guidance would ensure that developers can design tools aligned with pedagogical, ethical, and technical standards while navigating regulatory and institutional diversity across Member States. In particular, targeted resources would help smaller innovators, who constitute the majority of Europe’s EdTech market, enter new markets responsibly, meet data protection obligations, and adapt their products to different educational systems.
Such guidance should not only clarify “what to comply with,” but also “how to comply,” providing practical, context-specific examples and templates. It should address the full innovation lifecycle: from responsible design and testing, through procurement and scaling, to long-term data governance. Sustained collaboration between public authorities, industry networks, and research institutions would be essential to keep the guidance current and relevant.
Major enabling factors

  • Existing educational data and knowledge platforms such as Eurydice, OECD Education GPS, and UNESCO country profiles offer established models for structured, regularly updated overviews.

  • European EdTech networks (e.g. European EdTech Alliance, local alliances, and EIT Digital) can provide localised knowledge and good practice examples.

  • Increasing policy focus on transparency and compliance in digital education under the Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027) creates a mandate for more formalised support mechanisms.

  • Interoperability and data standards initiatives (e.g. by the European Digital Education Hub, Gaia-X for Education) offer a technical foundation for guidance on responsible digital infrastructure.

Major roadblocks
  • Responsibility for EdTech regulation and support is divided across ministries (education, economy, digital affairs, data protection), complicating coordination and leading to major gaps in resource development and support.
  • Frequent updates in AI, data protection, and accessibility standards create uncertainty, particularly for SMEs without legal expertise.
  • Many guides and support projects are time-limited and quickly become outdated.
  • Resources often exist but are poorly communicated, not translated, or hidden behind paywalls or institutional barriers
Suggested action 1: Develop up-to-date overviews of procurement and localisation requirements
WHO (Potential actors)
DG EAC, OECD, UNESCO, European EdTech Alliance, national ministries of education, and industry networks.
 
WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)Develop a reliable, up-to-date overview of procurement and localisation requirements for EdTech products and services across Europe, accessible to both public and private stakeholders.
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HOW (Suggested activities)
  • Extend the Eurydice platform to include a section on national procurement frameworks, approval mechanisms, and EdTech adoption models.
  • Add structured EdTech procurement overviews to the OECD Digital Education Outlook and Education GPS.
  • Incorporate country-specific digital education and procurement data into UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring country profiles.
  • Coordinate regular updates through partnerships between international organisations, ministries, and national EdTech associations.
  • Support Data Protection Agencies in the creation of relevant resources and support mechanisms.
  • Ensure open access to the resource, enabling developers, policymakers, and researchers to make informed and comparable decisions
Existing steps in the right direction
Eurydice

The European Commission’s Eurydice platform which features regularly updated descriptions of a number of European education systems could be taken as an example for the way in which data points could be addressed and presented and possibly extended to include details on how educational institutions acquire and adopt EdTech products and services.​

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

  • Collaboration between ministries that all carry partial responsibility for the EdTech ecosystem (the ministry of education and research, the ministry of economics etc.) or other bodies of responsibility like the data protection agencies to clarify funding and support possibilities and responsibility.

  • European-wide resources that could be locally adapted or extended could provide relief and support for this, but these resources must be sustainable and kept up to date.

  • Sustained funding for the inclusion of EdTech-relevant data, and close collaboration with ministries and EdTech associations for accuracy and updates.

EmpowerED Country Profiles 

Through the EmpowerED project a number of currently still internal country profiles have been developed for certain European countries. These profiles include a snapshot of the national education market, procurement procedures for EdTech tools and services, an overview of key support organisations, as well as recommendations for EdTech organisations trying to sell into the respective markets.

Producing a reliable, up-to-date overview of procurement procedures for EdTech products and services could provide detailed information on how educational institutions can acquire EdTech tools and services in different countries, which not only helps EdTech providers, but also decision-makers and practitioners.

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

Expanding the existing work through the European EdTech Alliance’s network of national EdTech associations, of which some have already contributed to the national EdTech ecosystem overviews, and tailoring this content to address the needs of key stakeholder groups.

Suggested action 2:  Produce a European Developer’s Guide to EdTech
WHO (Potential actors)
DG EAC, DG Connect, DG GROW, European EdTech Alliance, European Schoolnet, national EdTech associations, and ministries of education
 
WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)
Create a publicly available developer’s guide to support the responsible design, implementation, and scaling of EdTech tools and services in line with European pedagogical and regulatory standards.
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HOW (Suggested activities)
  • Provide concise guidance on interoperability standards, accessibility, data protection, and ethical design.
  • Include structured overviews of national and regional education ecosystems, highlighting procurement and implementation processes.
  • Showcase good practice in co-creation, piloting, and evaluation.
  • Co-develop the guide with educators, researchers, and industry representatives to ensure applicability and legitimacy.
  • Outline clear examples for Public-private collaboration and partnership to ensure boundaries are clear.
  • Maintain and translate the guide as a living document, updated regularly through an EU coordination mechanism
Existing steps in the right direction
EmpowerED Guidelines and MOOCs

As a core component of its work to strengthen capacity across the European EdTech ecosystem, the EmpowerED project has produced a series of targeted guidelines and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). These resources are designed to support the development of knowledge, practical skills, and informed decision-making among the various actors involved in the digital education landscape, including EdTech providers. The guidelines provide clear, evidence-informed advice for policymakers, educators, EdTech providers, and other stakeholders, addressing key challenges such as procurement processes, product evaluation, implementation pathways, and effective collaboration. Developed in close cooperation with experts and practitioners from across Europe, both the guidelines and MOOCs were shaped to ensure usability, relevance, and alignment with the realities on the ground. Resources specifically aimed at EdTech providers include the guideline “Navigating the EdTech Landscape: From Product Quality Development to Business Success in the EU Market” and the MOOC “EdTech Entrepreneur Key Competencies”. Together, they help equip emerging and established EdTech providers with the knowledge required to build high-quality products, scale responsibly, and operate successfully within the European market.

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

  • Shorten and tailor the guidelines so they are easier for time-constrained stakeholders to use.

  • Create a European-wide resource library which contains these and other resources and guidelines

EdTech Developer’s Guide produced by the former Office of Education Technology (U.S.)

The former U.S. Department of Education’s Office of EdTech created EdTech Developer’s Guides that offer practical guidance on navigating procurement, funding, design, and distribution. The guides provide a clear overview of

  •  Understanding opportunity

  •  Leading from idea to implementation

  •  Networking and funding

  •  Inside view of the school systems and responsibilities

  •  Procurement requirements and distribution

  •  Interoperability requirements and data governance

  •  Important education trends to watch.

Special versions of the guides outlined development of specific technologies, such as AI, or specific subjects, such as English.

Please note that since January 2025, the Office of EdTech and the Department of Education in the USA have removed all resources and support tools from their website. The EEA has maintained copies of these documents to preserve the learning they contain and to continue to inform action through previous experience.

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

Adaptation for the European context, integrating multilingual guidance, EU regulatory frameworks, and national procurement pathways

Suggested action 3: Develop guidance on compliance obligations
WHO (Potential actors)
DG JUST, DG Connect, DG EAC, national data protection authorities, ministries of education, and civil society organisations to ensure alignment with child rights and inclusive education principles
 
WHAT (Goal of suggested activities)
Develop pan-European, sector-specific guidance that clarifies compliance obligations for EdTech providers, covering data protection, ethical AI, cybersecurity, and child rights.
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HOW (Suggested activities)
  • Conduct a comparative review of national interpretations of GDPR and AI regulation in education.
  • Co-develop model developer’s guidelines with regulators, data protection officers, and civil society experts, ensuring that all main topics supporting EdTech development and implementation are covered.
  • Fund the creation of guidelines and their regular updates.
  • Include concrete case studies illustrating responsible data handling and consent management in schools.
  • Provide low-cost compliance toolkits for SMEs (e.g. model Data Protection Impact Assessments, privacy-by-design templates).
  • Translate and disseminate resources in all EU official languages through public channels and EdTech associations.
Existing steps in the right direction
German guide for data protection measures in health data

The German guide for data protection measures in health data (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie 2018) offers a leading example of a guideline created by the ministry of economics and the data protection agencies, which includes support in understanding the legal and data protection requirements, case-studies for comparison, technical requirements, solutions for development, and main contacts for further clarification and questions.​

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Specific support required to achieve the Goal: 

Develop an equivalent EU-level “Digital Education Compliance Guide” under DG JUST and DG EAC, aligning with GDPR and the forthcoming AI Act.

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