Nordic EdTech News #133: 2025-04-28
Your Weeks 15 to 17 update from the Nordic and Baltic EdTech ecosystem
Nordic EdTech News is the best way to keep up with the EdTech ecosystem across 8 Nordic and Baltic countries. I curate it from company updates and a wide variety of international sources. It’s a passion project of mine - the rest of my time is spent advising / consulting the companies who lead the future of learning. If you’d like to find out more, hit reply!
Hello and welcome to today’s Nordic EdTech News. It’s great to be back in your inbox after a short Easter break. Grab another coffee and let’s get into the updates.
Given that both the US and China are now embedding AI as a key part of compulsory education, the launch of the European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan is both hugely timely and much-needed.
With a budget of €200 billion, the ambition is clearly to build technological sovereignty through investments in 5 key areas including education. An AI Skills Academy is to be established; AI literacy in primary and secondary education will be prioritised through existing strategies such as the STEM Education Strategic Plan, whilst Digital Innovation Hubs will give teachers, students and companies access to supercomputers and test environments.
And yet, some countries in the Nordics continue to take a different path. In Sweden, commentators and experts continue to insist that the government should urgently develop an AI strategy for schools “to empower both students and teachers to understand and manage AI.” Yet the government refuses, preferring instead to prioritise investment in print, announcing another SEK 480 million for the purchase of books for the country's preschools and schools.
Even more extraordinarily, Kari Nessa Nordtun, the Norwegian Minister for Education and Science, has asked for an assessment of “the consequences of removing digital skills as one of the five basic skills for the youngest students.” Since 2006, these have been a core skill in Norwegian schools, along with reading, writing, arithmetic and oral skills.
Thankfully, Oslo’s new school director, Marius Arnason Bøe, has a more enlightened view. In a recent interview he stated:
I disagree with that. Various digital solutions and tools are part of the society that all children are a part of and should become a part of. Therefore, it is important that we enable children and young people to succeed in the digital world.
Bøe also emphasised his belief that screens have a natural place in schools, and that he’ll focus on “using educational tools in the right way.”
Despite the political noise, the Finnish Publishers Association 2024 summary of spend on teaching materials shows that digital resources remain widely used. It reveals a total spend across all non-HE sectors of €126 million - €46 million of which is now digital (36.3%). That’s a small year on year increase of 0.3%, although there is a slight shift back to print when just looking at compulsory school learning materials.
In a quiet period for funding and acquisition news, huge congratulations to Lithuania’s Turing College, who have taken over the UK’s Boom Training to power their market entry (Link). The move aims to transform the UK apprenticeship market by using tech-native learning to upskill the future workforce. For Lukas Kaminskis, CEO and co-founder of Turing College:
The acquisition positions us to be a serious challenger in a space where innovation has lagged behind demand. With Boom, we’re well placed to scale to a better model — one that delivers for both learners and employers.
As summer approaches, it’s time to put the Nordic EdTech Summit in your calendar. We’re working full throttle to raise the bar even higher than last year. Have you grabbed your ticket yet?
I’m also delighted to confirm that Learnosity and Gleerups have been added to the list of Summit partners. A huge thank you to them and the other companies below for their support of the Summit - it’s very much appreciated!
And finally, three news updates from our partners to mention.
Anna Werntoft has been named as the new CEO at NE. (Link)
Sanoma Learning has released their 2025 European Teacher Survey, which represents the voice of nearly 7,000 teachers across 7 countries (including Finland and Sweden).
Skolon published its numbers for Q1 2025. Their report shows strong organic growth, increased sales of SEK 32.2 (23.5) million and a continued positive EBITDA for the Swedish business.
If you’ve got a story that you’d like me to include in a future issue of this newsletter, please email hello@10digits.org, tag me on X or LinkedIn or use #nordicedtech / #balticedtech.
Thanks for reading, Jonathan
News from Denmark
Half of all Danish municipalities join forces to ensure Google complies with GDPR. (Link)
The cybersecurity threat to Danish universities is described as “real and present” by the national government. (Link)
The results of the Grundskolepanelet run by the Danish Agency for Education and Quality did not provide the anticipated, clear insights into the use of digital learning materials in schools. (Link)
Former CEO André Fehrn is returning to Shape Robotics as chairman of the board (Link) as the company confirms a new partnership in the Middle East with Adowa Alshamel. (Link)
Interview with Aditya Prakash, founder and CEO, of SKIDOS, who have also closed a partnership with the Smurfs to create new digital resources (Link)
tiny has announced a new partnership in France with Easytis. (Link)
News from Estonia
Great to see this connection and cooperation between Edtech Estonia and Helsinki Education Hub. (Link)
kood/Jõhvi will collaborate with Estonian Business School to deliver an English-language bachelor's programme that combines technological skills and entrepreneurial competence. (Link)
News from Finland
The City and the University of Helsinki have been testing “different solutions for counting the number of users in shared learning environments and monitoring the occupancy rates of the spaces.” (Link)
3DBear has successfully launched Simuna, its simulation learning product, and secured €1M of funding during 2024-2025. (Link)
New research from New Caledonia shows the impact of GraphoGame’s French language learning programme. (Link)
Moomin Language School continues to expand with new customers in Macau (Link) and a new reseller in Brazil (Link).
New column from Dr. Federico Malpica, founder of TeachersPro, on the importance of a professional teacher culture in Finnish education. (Link)
ThingLink is now available via Skolon for schools in the Nordics and the UK. The integration was launched at the Sett fair in Stockholm. (Link)
News from Iceland
A meeting convened by the Icelandic EdTech Industry considered “privacy, digital learning materials and innovation in schools.” (Link)
News from Latvia
Dace Melbārde, Minister of Education and Science, has promised to provide guidelines for the use of AI in education by this summer. (Link)
Edurio has added the Bourne Education Trust and their 24 schools to their growing list of UK customers. (Link)
News from Lithuania
A new government-led AI working group will produce an action plan to help schools “safely and responsibly use” AI by the beginning of August. (Link)
News from Norway
Good round-up of the key discussions at the recent KS conference on digitalisation in schools. (Link)
Researchers find that students who use AI get higher grades. They are now encouraging schools and universities to use it more in their teaching. (Link)
Aschehoug Education launches new AI-powered resources to give “students the opportunity to explore and test understanding in new ways.” (Link)
OsloMet is introducing a new digital tool called My Studies to give students a better overview of their study routines. (Link)
The launch of Scrimba Fullstack (a learning experience that blends videos and live coding into a single tool) won Product of the Day on Product Hunt. (Link)
Vigilo has been certified according to the new 1EdTech standard OneRoster 1.2. (Link)
News from Sweden
Fredrik Bengtsson has been appointed as the new Interim Chief Executive Officer for the Albert Group. (Link)
ILT Education has now launched Aski Raski in Finland after successfully taking the acquisition into the Swedish market. (Link)
Logometrica has created Alfa, a new digital tool that “screens an entire class for reading and language skills in 15 minutes.” (Link)
Meitner has developed a new AI-based teaching assistant and a one-stop shop for school platform integrations called Marketplace. (Link)
Natur & Kultur delivered “increased market share” in teaching resources in 2024 with operating profit up to SEK 71 (53) million with turnover rising to SEK 458 (428) million. (Link)
Orbi’s 2024 Annual Report shows a 1,522% increase in job engagement and over 4.5 million minutes of engagement on the platform. (Link)
SUNET has selected Instructure’s Canvas LMS to provide an “open, modern and flexible learning management system to its members.“ (Link)
Tilda has raised additional investment from Emil Sjödin and state-owned Annexstruktur AB (Saminvest AB). (Link)
Trying something a bit different this week for those awesome readers, who make it this far! Hit reply and let me know what your biggest challenge is right now. I'll give you a specific suggestion to help with it.
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