The NEN Interview: Esben Trier, CEO EdTech Denmark

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of good news stories from leading Danish EdTech businesses including Airtame, CanopyLab, Edaptio and, of course, Labster. It’s clear that Danish EdTech is on the up.

So I was delighted when Esben Trier, the recently-appointed CEO of EdTech Denmark, agreed to talk to me as part of this new series of Nordic EdTech News (NEN) interviews.

As previously, the transcript of our conversation (edited to bring you all of the very best bits) follows below.

These interviews are published every fortnight with key players from across Nordic EdTech. Your feedback is always appreciated, so please email hello@10digits.org or comment below.

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Best regards, Jonathan

Jonathan Viner (JV): Hi Esben and thanks for talking to me today! Can you tell me a little about your background and what you did before becoming CEO of EdTech Denmark.

Esben Trier (ET): I started life as an entrepreneur in the early 1990s publishing free newspapers and building websites. I then moved into the corporate world as one of three co-founders of the Danish edition of the free newspaper, Metro.

After a stint working in London as the global sales and marketing director of Metro International, I came back to Denmark at the end of 2010 and set up as a digital consultant, working with different digital businesses and start-ups.

Three years ago, I joined the Danish EdTech, CanopyLAB, as COO before being given the opportunity to head EdTech Denmark earlier this year.

JV: Three and a half weeks into the job, what are your impressions of the EdTech landscape in which you’re now working?

ET: As you know, as publisher of your very fine newsletter, the whole global EdTech industry is on a roll. Teachers, students and EdTech companies all over the world have been crash landed into using digital technologies to support new ways of learning.

That has meant an enormous amount of interest in our industry. Both from education professionals, but also from citizens and parents who are now using EdTech products for the first time and benefiting from the expertise across our industry.

In Denmark, we have seen very significant interest in EdTech from investors. I’m particularly excited to see lots of new partnerships between EdTech businesses and educational institutions to develop new tools and innovations. The global pandemic has really forced people on both sides of the table to come together and collaborate.

JV: EdTech Denmark is, of course, unique in that education institutions can also join as members. How does that work?

ET: Well, EdTech Denmark is a little special because we are not just a business association. We are more of a lobbying and interest organisation and follow the classic triple helix model. So we have three types of members - EdTech businesses, education institutions and government organisations / municipalities / NGOs.

We have lots in common, but we also have different interests within the same organisation. I think that this is a huge opportunity and a fantastic basis for collaboration between our members.

JV: What are your core policy priorities for the organisation moving forward?

ET: From talking with the board and with members, I think that there are four main policy areas.

Firstly, future competencies and skills. We know that the labour market will undergo huge changes in the next decade. In Denmark in that period, we're looking at up to one million people who need to be reskilled and upskilled.

The next big theme is around the ethical use of data, which is really interesting because you could say that this is in everybody's interest, but it's no one's responsibility. I think that Danish and Scandinavian EdTechs have a huge opportunity to use data in a constructive and positive way as a competitive differentiator in global markets. This is because of the priority we place on safe data use and our tradition for democracy and education.

Third would, of course, be exploring and supporting the sale and export of Danish EdTech. At the moment that's the easy part, because we’re seeing a lot of interest from other countries and from investors.

The fourth one is around public policy and the role that EdTech can play across our educational system. Due to the pandemic, we’re seeing increasing interest here, particularly around public / private cooperation and we need to push this agenda to secure ongoing innovation.

JV: There are lots of really positive developments across Danish EdTech at the moment. Can you identify any particular reasons for that?

ET: I think, in part, it’s because Denmark has such a strong tradition in education, dating back to the early 1800s. This was especially influenced by the ideas of NFS Grundtvig, a philosopher, politician and writer, who advocated inspiring methods of teaching and the foundation of people’s high schools.

Education has always been seen in Denmark and across Scandinavia as a building block for the whole of our society. That’s why other countries are so impressed by our school systems and look to us for inspiration.

We also have a strong design tradition. This has been adapted into EdTech by LEGO, for example, to create great products that are clever, fun and easy to use.

Obviously at the moment, we also have everyone working and learning remotely, so the pandemic has given the sector a huge push. EdTech is also a safe place for investors to go as a vertical market with huge potential for future development.

JV: What role does the Danish government have in supporting your organisation and in supporting EdTech as a business sector in Denmark?

ET: They have a huge role, of course, due to the fact that a large portion of public spending goes into the educational system here. Importantly though, the pandemic has been an eye opener, highlighting that many parts of our public administration do not have a clear digital strategy.

We need to address that as online education will be part of the new normal - we’re not delivering emergency education anymore. That’s one of the debates that we’ve seen in Denmark, as education institutions and teachers have proposed making timetables more flexible and actually including obligatory home schooling as part of it. We’re involved in conversations about how to embrace the technology available because, of course, students should get back to school and back into classrooms.

JV: When you speak to your members from education institutions, how do they feel they have responded to the challenges of Covid?

ET: Well, clearly that depends on who you ask and where they are in the educational system. But the EVA report you included in last week’s newsletter, showed that many teachers and students found it to be a huge challenge. We have to admit that.

One of the things that we are looking at is that many teachers have very honestly said that they didn’t have the skills to deliver digital or online schooling. And that they need re-skilling in certain areas to perform these roles.

But I also believe that the last year has helped lots of teachers and students to better understand the opportunities offered by EdTech. They’re therefore more likely to embrace it moving forwards. I think that the biggest task now for schools is to understand the new order and to plan their response accordingly, and for EdTechs to listen carefully to institution feedback after the first year of the pandemic.

JV: And what about your corporate members? How have Danish EdTech businesses been affected by the pandemic?

ET: One of my first actions has been to meet every member of EdTech Denmark and it's very clear that the pandemic has affected them in different ways. Obviously for some, it has meant new business. But for others, it has also brought huge challenges in scaling up their organisation and their technical capacity to respond to huge increases in demand.

But it’s certainly helped businesses see things more clearly from the educational institutions’ perspective. There’s lots for us discuss and for me, the most interesting and important parts are the opportunities for cooperation, innovation and partnerships across the sector.

JV: What lessons should Nordic EdTech learn from Labster’s stunning recent raise and ongoing success?

ET: Be more bold!

EdTech’s obviously seen as an attractive, safe haven for investment at the moment. And anything that enables scalable digital delivery is even more attractive. Plus the Nordic way of thinking and focus on education makes us very attractive to foreign investors.

JV: There appear to be a number of unique EdTech clusters in Denmark. For example, around robots with Kubo and Shape Robotics and in corporate learning for Actimo and Actee. Why is this the case?

ET: I think that the cluster phenomenon is quite common in tech with FinTech, HealthTech and other clusters globally.

I think it’s down to innovative companies who are spearheading innovation and who have brought others with them. We’re seeing that a lot at the moment with new Danish EdTech startups forming almost every month.

JV: If we're talking about Danish EdTech companies, then we have to talk about LEGO.

ET: Yes, of course! As you know, LEGO is everywhere in Denmark and it’s a household commodity. I think most people would see them as an entertainment and family brand. But you're right, LEGO is maybe the biggest EdTech that we have. Over recent years, they have also increased their interest in technology and are now heavily involved in many different companies through their investment arm (LEGO Ventures).

JV: What would you say are the biggest challenges for Danish EdTechs moving forwards?

ET: Firstly, the biggest problem is that our home market of Denmark is too small, and secondly that it is quite dominated by big players.

Many EdTech businesses in Denmark therefore have to look abroad to build a market position and revenue. That's obviously a challenge, but we've been very successful in responding to that. I think we have huge influence across the EdTech sector - in the UK and in other Scandinavian countries, for example. We're also beginning to see huge interest from Germany. And we also now have a couple of companies who are very active in Latin America.

JV: When you say that the market is dominated by big players, what do you mean? Is Danish innovation struggling to cut through and to get past Google and Microsoft?

ET: No, I don’t think so. But importantly these companies are also commodities - something that everybody uses. Obviously, they have fantastic software and fantastic organisations to develop, maintain and sell that software to everyone. So I think it's more of a question how smaller EdTechs can adapt and integrate them into other tools.

But, one of the societal challenges that we face is ensuring that all EdTechs live up to the standards that we have in Denmark and Scandinavia around data ethics. We’ll wait and see what comes next from Margrethe Vestager and the EU on this. But one of the key questions for me is how can Denmark lead the agenda on data and GDPR in the right way.

JV: How can we build a Nordic EdTech ecosystem or market so that businesses can sell more easily to other countries?

ET: I think we are on the way to doing that. We already have good collaboration between the Nordic EdTech associations and that’s led to the formation of a European EdTech organisation (the European Edtech Alliance).

There's also a lot of initiatives coming. Next month, for instance, the Nordic and Baltic EdTech associations are collaborating on a virtual event - The Future of Education in the new Nordics - along with their embassies in Stockholm.

The Nordics and Baltic countries always team up and work well together. We have a good history of collaboration through our common heritage.

JV: Agreed, but your role is about taking Danish EdTech forward. How will you be able to judge if your work as CEO has been a success?

ET: I think it will be important to see an increased recognition of the role of EdTech in public policy. But also that Danish EdTech is more widely used across public institutions and our educational system.

I do want to see that we've been better at pushing the know-how and the R+D that is being done within our higher education system into Danish society.

I’m also keen to raise the global profile of Danish and Nordic EdTech globally. My inspiration for this is both the Danish design legacy and the Danish Michelin-starred Noma restaurant. The latter’s ‘New Nordic’ cuisine transformed global gastronomy - the opportunity is there for us to do the same with Nordic EdTech.

And finally, I think that, in five years time, we have to see a Danish EdTech unicorn.

JV: Wow! That’s an ambitious agenda to work towards! But how realistic is it?

ET: Well we’ve got great businesses already making their mark locally and internationally. And we’re also seeing amazing new EdTech businesses launching every month at the moment.

But I’m really humble about this role. I'm very lucky to get this task right now because the opportunities and the possibilities for developing Danish EdTech and our educational sector are so big. My phone has rung three times whilst we’ve been doing this interview!

JV: Thanks very much for your time Esben! It’s been great talking to you.

Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed this interview, please do subscribe to Nordic EdTech News, you’ll get future newsletters and interviews in your inbox every Monday morning.