Reflections from the Dutch EdTech Summit 2025
Building Bridges in Dutch EdTech: Innovation, Evidence, and Collaboration
On October 10th, the Dutch EdTech community gathered at Codam College in Amsterdam for the Dutch EdTech Summit 2025, a dynamic day celebrating collaboration, innovation, and the power of education technology to drive change.
The event, beautifully hosted by Dutch EdTech, brought together educators, policymakers, researchers, and entrepreneurs from across the Netherlands and beyond. Under the leadership of Jitske and Buket, Dutch EdTech continues to play a vital role in strengthening the national EdTech ecosystem—connecting founders, educators, and public partners to advance innovation that truly benefits learners.
The morning kicked off with four interactive roundtables exploring key topics shaping the future of education:
Quality Education for Kids
Workforce at Risk (AI)
Collaborative Trust Framework for Higher Education
EdTech Evidence Strategy – Building a Dutch Testbed
It was an incredible honor to join the roundtable on building a Dutch EdTech Testbed, which focused on how evidence-based experimentation can accelerate the responsible adoption of learning technologies in the Netherlands. Together with researchers, founders, and policymakers, we explored:
Where the Netherlands stands compared to the rest of Europe
What initiatives already exist locally
Which international examples can inspire us
How to align education, science, and policy in a shared approach
The discussion underscored the need for spaces where educators can test tools safely and purposefully (“sandboxing”), supported by clear frameworks for scaling and evaluating impact. Building such a testbed would help bridge the gap between innovation and implementation—turning ideas into evidence, and evidence into practice.
After a delicious networking lunch, the excitement continued with the GESAwards – Global EdTech Startup Awards 2025 Dutch Regional Semifinal, where seven innovative startups pitched their AI-driven solutions to a panel of investors and experts.
The day also marked the launch of the State of the Dutch EdTech Ecosystem Report 2025, providing an in-depth look at the growth of the Dutch EdTech sector, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities ahead.
You can download the full report here: State of Dutch EdTech Ecosystem Report 2025
In the afternoon, the panel discussion “Every Societal Transition is a Learning Transition” sparked meaningful reflection on how EdTech can help societies navigate major challenges, ranging from workforce shortages and digitalization to healthcare transformation and inequality.
Discussions throughout the summit emphasized AI literacy for educators, collaboration across sectors, and the importance of keeping innovation human-centered and inclusive.
A huge thank you to Dutch EdTech, especially Jitske von Os and Buket Aksoy, for building such a vibrant and connected ecosystem.
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