BESA becomes partner in EDUCATE project

The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has announced its involvement as delivery partners in the EDUCAtional Technology Exchange (EDUCATE) project.

The project is a pioneering collaboration by industry, academics and teachers, which aims to catalyse the development of evidence-based EdTech products and services.

The EDUCATE project will be delivered by UCL in partnership with F6S, Nesta and BESA, which represents over 300 of the UK’s world-leading educational suppliers.

EDUCATE will bring together educators, researchers and the EdTech industry in order to develop and use the best research-informed EdTech.

It will set up a physical and virtual working space where EdTech SMEs and researcher-entrepreneurs will work together with researchers, educators and business experts. All participating SMEs will have access to research training, mentoring and support.

EDUCATE aims to translate research into new and better educational products, stimulating demand for new EdTech products by improving the quality of products and services and engaging with users as part of the design process.

The project is receiving up to £4.5 million of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

Caroline Wright, director general of BESA said: “We know from our research that schools say there isn’t currently sufficient information to help them assess which EdTech products have the greatest impact in the classroom.

“The EDUCATE project will directly address this need, bringing together industry, academics and teachers in an unprecedented collaboration. We hope the results of the EDUCATE programme will set a new global standard for an evidence-based approach to Education Technology.”