EdTech Talents project’s third Transnational Meeting was held on 20-22 November in Tallinn, hosted by Tallinn University. The three-day knowledge sharing event brought together academics, industry representatives and professionals representing innovation policy and practice circles from across the countries involved on the project.
The setting of of the meeting was indeed defined by the wider goal of the project, which is to build vibrant Educational Technology ecosystems in the six countries currently participating in the project – Austria, Estonia, Hungary, Germany, Serbia and Spain. While the EdTech Talents community constitutes the core of the emerging international movement, both academic organisations as well as industries from other European countries are already showing an interest in joining it. The meeting provided, among the others, an opportunity to the potential future partners to understand the project, its conceptual foundations and its modus operandi. Needless to say, that the 4Helix innovation model bringing together academia, industry, policy makers and civil society actors appears as highly attractive across the continent in times when the diffusion of technology in various sectors, including education, is lagging considerably the advances in technology. Accordingly, in addition to strengthening the social dimension of innovation as its primary objective, through the scholarly articles published by the project’s participants it is already contributing to scholarly knowledge on innovation as a society-wide practice ant the roles of various actors in it.
The first day of the meeting was devoted to the Future of Digital Education. The Main Stage Event of the Europe-wide initiative DigiEduHack offered an opportunity to present the project and share insights in a wider EdTech community. The day featured a thought-provoking panel discussion on the Building Blocks of an Innovative Digital Education Ecosystem, with EdTech Estonia representative Märt Aro sharing his expertise. The day ended inspiring closing words by Kristi Klaasmägi, Vice-Rector for Educational Innovation of Tallinn University.
The second day of the meeting focused on capacity building primarily within the project community. Among the presenters appeared Dr. Slavko Rakić and Prof. Ugljesa Marjanovic from Novi Sad, Serbia and Dr. Kadri Mettis, Prof. Kristjan Kask, and Prof. Martin Sillaots from Tallinn.
Panel Discussion of leading EdTech experts on the current trends and future directions in educational technology moderated by Prof. Ugljesa Marjanovic included Prof. Johan Winsborn from Sweden, Prof. Airina Volungeviciene from Lithuania, Dr. Tomi Kauppinen from Finland and Mr. Oleg Shvaikovsky from Estonia. In addition to this, Mr. TaaviLindmaa shared actionable tips for creating impactful LinkedIn posts and Mr. Mart Soonik offered guidance on making compelling public presentations..
On the final day the EdTech Talents participants discussed a range or project related issues covering collaborations, mentorships, and innovation. Sessions were held on dissemination of project results and outcomes, developing mentoring frameworks, including researchers and industry development, as well as issues related to EdTech ecosystems’ development.
Opportunity was given also given to Obuda University, Hungary, representatives just joining the project activities to introduce themselves and their university as well as those of Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania to discuss their prospective involvement in the project.
The final session covered issues related to managing Intellectual Property in the context of university spin-off companies, as well as various project housekeeping matters. At the end of the meeting the symbolic baton was handed over to the representatives of Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria, who will organise the next EdTech Talents Transnational Meeting in June 2025.
