Nordic EdTech News #126: 2025-01-13
Your new year update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Hello, happy new year and welcome to the first Nordic EdTech News of 2025. This newsletter rounds up everything that has happened across the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem since 16th December last year. There’s lots to update you on, so pour yourself another coffee and let’s get straight into it!
The Christmas break always provides a great opportunity to catch up on my reading and this Economist article looking at why Nordic companies are so successful really struck a chord. It’s amazing to learn that the Nordic region accounts for about 1% of the world’s GDP but only 0.3% of its population, outperforming companies from the rest of Europe over the past decade.
Of course, this is also certainly true in EdTech where Nordic companies lead the way in many markets and sectors. Indeed part of my rationale behind the Nordic EdTech Summit has always been to provide a forum where business leaders can learn from each other and share the secrets of their successes / failures.
So if you missed the news in the run up to the holidays, the Nordic EdTech Summit will be coming to Malmö on 10 September 2025. I’m pleased to confirm that the event will take place at Studio Malmö, which is an easy walk from the main railway station. Just 20 minutes by train from Copenhagen, the largest airport hub in Northern Europe, Malmö is perfectly positioned for travel from the Nordics, Baltics and beyond.
Early Bird tickets will be available from 27th January. But in the meantime, pre-register now to receive updates as they happen!
Returning to the theme of Nordic companies crushing it internationally, it’s great to see Kognity growing at pace, particularly in the US. In a recent interview with DI, CEO Hugo Wernhoff revealed: “We have annual sales of SEK 200 million and positive cash flow for the first time on an annual basis.”
For other Swedish EdTech companies looking to go global, do check out the new Swedish Edtech Accelerator from Business Sweden. It’s a unique programme of online workshops designed to support each company’s journey towards internationalisation and it’s free of charge!
Norway’s Crayon has certainly been successful in scaling their software and cloud solutions to education customers across the Nordics and beyond. They announced just before Christmas that they had agreed to an acquisition by Swiss competitor, SoftwareOne Holding AG (Link). The word “scale” appears frequently in the press release and that’s clearly key to get the best access and deals from their key partners like AWS, Google and Microsoft.
These organisations will all be at the Bett Show in London later this month. I'll be there too and would love to meet up with any Nordic EdTech businesses exhibiting or attending - replying to this email is the easiest way to set up a meeting.
I’m sure that AI will be everywhere. So I’ll be intrigued to see if visitors agree with Kristina Kallas, Estonia’s Minister of Education, who recently argued that AI and ChatGPT were making the school system's traditional written assignments obsolete.
It will also be fascinating to take the temperature of the UK and European EdTech market. Particularly as the FT recently reported that global investment in EdTech companies has fallen to its lowest level in a decade.
This trend has certainly been visible in the 23 newsletters I produced during 2024, covering thousands of news stories from across our ecosystem. On average, each newsletter generated over 2,950 views (+13% yoy), was opened by 40% of subscribers with 20% of readers clicking on a link. Thanks again for your support!
If you read this newsletter for Nordic EdTech analysis, you may be interested to know that I also deliver consultancy and advisory work for clients. In a fascinating and highly varied 2024, I launched the Nordic EdTech Summit and worked with organisations including Academic Software, Dansk Industri, EdTech Impact, the European Commission, Human eSources, ILT Education, KTH Innovation, Reading Cloud, Sanako, SETT and Skolon. Please get in touch if you’d like to talk about working together.
Here’s to a healthy and successful 2025!
Best, Jonathan
News from Denmark
43% of students in grades 6 and 8 use digital devices such as computers or smartphones for more than three hours a day during school, according to the Ministry of Children and Education's primary school panel. (Link)
Alice.tech are exploring the US market to explore how their solution can best help students and institutions. (Link)
With a donation of DKK 3.97 million from TrygFonden, ENIGMA will launch a range of mobile courses on AI for post-secondary students. (Link)
“Despite two stock market reprimands and a lukewarm local market, Shape Robotics insists that its presence in Denmark is strategically important.” (Link)
SkoleGPT Science has received DKK 5.7 million in support from Novo Nordisk Foundation to shape “the future of science education in primary and lower secondary schools.” (Link)
Unihelper.io unveiled new research from University of Leeds highlighting their positive impact on students’ engagement and learning. (Link)
VR Trainer now covers 70 clinical procedures and their solution is being used by leading Danish medical courses. (Link)
News from Estonia
Congratulations to EdTech Estonia on their 4th birthday. (Link)
News from Finland
How Finland fuels children’s future with financial literacy and food. (Link)
“Annie Advisor's AI experiment in Vantaa was a success.” (Link)
A UNICEF report highlights the results of Eduten’s 10-week pilot in Bhutan: +11.2% in numeracy and +4.6% in fluency. (Link)
The Helsinki Education Hub has extended the application deadline for the next intake of its incubator programme. (Link)
KS selects Valamis and Task to deliver Norway’s new learning platform for municipalities. (Link)
News from Iceland
Plans are progressing to “implement artificial intelligence in Icelandic school work in a safe and efficient way.” (Link and Link)
News from Latvia
The Ministry of Education and Science is conducting a feasibility study of Internet data transmission capacity in schools across Latvia. (Link)
Increasing concern that investment is going into a student monitoring system rather than providing resources for students / teachers. (Link)
News from Lithuania
Great to see such ambition from EdTech Lithuania, who plan to create a national EdTech strategy to help make Lithuania one of the top education systems in Europe. (Link)
EditAI was named Lithuanian AI Solution of the Year in the Education sector. (Link)
Edu Challenger Accelerator is now accepting applications for its second cohort. The deadline to apply is 6 February. (Link)
News from Norway
Nine out of ten students in compulsory education have access to their own digital device. (Link)
As ever, lots to learn from Kjetil Holmefjord’s update on the state of Norwegian early-stage funding. (Link)
Parents and politicians react negatively to Oslo schools being featured in a promotion for Apple (Link) as the council moves younger students away from digital devices (Link).
IKT-Norge argues that reduced use of “digital aids in schools can trigger digital class divisions.” (Link)
The International Centre for EdTech Impact has joined the UNESCO Global Education Coalition. (Link)
Kristiania University College aims to learn lessons on engaging students from gaming and TikTok. (Link)
Welcome to Nettskolen Møre og Romsdal - a new form of digital upper secondary school. (Link)
How No Isolation’s AV1 robot helps “will reduce absenteeism in adult education.” (Link)
News from Sweden
SEK 480 million in funding will be available for new books for Sweden's children and students next year. (Link)
30,000 IKEA employees have been trained in the use of AI. (Link)
Gradr are running an Educational AI Summit in Stockholm on 7 February. Details here.
The 2023 Learning Materials Barometer from Läromedelsföretagen shows a clear increase in spend on learning materials by Swedish municipalities. (Link)
With funding from Utfallsfonden, Lexplore will help 2,600 primary school students in Gävle to develop their reading skills. (Link)
SkillGround has successfully closed their seed investment round, which will enable them to scale and move into the next phase of growth. (Link)
Studora began work with Liber to offer an “even larger digital coursebook to Swedish students.” (Link)
Tempus and SKR collaborate to measure attendance in preschool. (Link)
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