EdTech Marketplace
Curious what the EdTech Marketplace can offer? Read on!
Interested already?
Why an ‘EdTech Marketplace’?
Collaborating with innovative EdTech startups and scale-ups requires a flexible approach to procurement, making it easier for all parties to work together. However, educational institutions are currently facing challenges in establishing relatively small contracts with EdTech providers. This complexity arises partly due to strict procurement laws and regulations, resulting in limited procurement options. To facilitate efficient procurement of innovative solutions, we need to experiment with new, innovative forms of procurement. Thus, the pilot hub EdTech has developed an ‘EdTech Marketplace’, where supply and demand meet seamlessly, allowing educational institutions to submit their purchase orders.
“As the digital world evolves rapidly, educational institutions must work together. By jointly procuring EdTech and sharing knowledge, we save time and strengthen our innovation capacity.”
Linda Lücker-Jansma – Project lead Innovation & Procurement
What types of purchase orders can be submitted?
Existing EdTech products
Ready-to-use EdTech solutions (Commercial Off-The-Shelf / COTS Software) that can be purchased by one or multiple educational institutions, either individually or jointly, based on a functional need.
New EdTech solutions to be developed
EdTech solutions that still need to be developed or existing solutions that have not yet been applied within educational institutions as EdTech.
Development expertise (hours)
Further development of EdTech solutions by contracting (software) providers on an hourly basis for development work.
For and by educational institutions
The EdTech Marketplace was designed in collaboration with representatives s from various educational institutions. Silvester Draaijer, program manager at the VU Education Lab, part of the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning (VU CTL), is one of the participants in the EdTech Marketplace experiment.
“In my work, I often ran into the limitations of current procurement processes. They are often lengthy and inflexible. Moreover, it is ‘every man for himself’, with everyone negotiating for their own institution. In my opinion, that is not an effective way of procurement.””
Silvester Draaijer – Program manager VU Education Lab
Therefore, Silvester sought a faster, flexible, and more approachable way to request specific desired features needed for educational institutions. Think of new assessment software, software for in-class interactions, or AI avatars to help practice difficult conversations (see box below). According to Silvester, a big advantage of the EdTech Marketplace is having the option to choose from (multiple) companies that can offer something already existing, while also having the option to have something new developed.
An example of a possible request can be found below.
Example use case: AI avatars
Background: Many educational courses, skills – including communication skills – are trained and taught. While much of this education is theoretical, there is a growing need to put knowledge into practice, Currently, this can be done with, for example, the use of – expensive – actors. To simplify this practical part of education, our institution is looking for an EdTech tool to support this process.
Objectives:
- Efficient teaching, no actors.
- Tool that converts theory into practice and can test the student throughout the process.
- Frequent practice at no additional cost.
- Tool that can also support non-native speakers who speak Dutch or speakers with a (otherwise) heavy accent.
- Possibility to set the behavioral style of the AI avatar.
Requested result: A system where students can practice conversations. such as holding a feedback conversation with a consistently late student. This tool will support communication exercises and conversation training.
Possible applications: Suitable for various educational contexts, such as patient interviews, communication training and job training. A possible further development would be practicing in Virtual Reality.
Benefits of the EdTech Marketplace
What are the benefits for educational institutions?
Joint procurement not only saves a lot of valuable time, but also provides the opportunity to come to better agreements with EdTech companies on purchasing conditions, public values and transparent pricing. The EdTech Marketplace also offers the flexibility to include specific institutional requirements in the proposal request, so that purchased products and services seamlessly match needs.
Moreover, educational institutions benefit from the combined expertise of SURF and Npuls regarding innovative procurement.
Why a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)?
Currently, EdTech products are mostly procured by educational institutions through traditional procurement processes. In these, tenders are officially announced, and parties can bid for the contract within a set deadline. Hower, these procedures often take a long time, are bound by fixed deadlines and rigid rules, and offer little room for adaptability and innovation. This is why the EdTech Marketplace experiment chose to set up a Dynamic Procurement System, or DPS (in Dutch: DAS). Additionally, some experimental adjustments have been made. For example, in addition to Commercial Off-The-Shelf products, also other items can be purchased (see above). Moreover, also with previously established contract values, it is possible to enter the marketplace.
More information about Dynamic Purchasing Systems can be found here.
What are the benefits of the DPS in this experiment?
- Access to latest and greatest solutions
Since new providers can sign up continuously, educational institutions have access to the latest and greatest EdTech solutions. This also ensures competitive prices, and a higher quality of products and services offered. - Efficiency
The entire process is electronic and standardized, ensuring clarity and openness. This reduces administrative burdens and speeds up the procurement process.
What are the benefits for EdTech companies?
In the EdTech Marketplace, supply and demand come together and EdTech companies can offer their products to all educational institutions. Other benefits for EdTech companies come from the DPS being more flexible, shorter lead times and the opportunity for collaboration and co-creation with educational institutions.
Step-by-step instruction
1. Assemble your internal projectteam as an educational institution.
2.Formulate the assignment on behalf of your institution, set the requirements and criteria, and post this information in the EdTech Marketplace.
3. Allow suppliers to ask questions within a set period.
4. Respond to the questions submitted by suppliers.
5. Receive the bids from suppliers.
6. Evaluate the submitted bids.
7. Announce the award or rejection, providing motivation.
8. Complete and sign the contract within the specified time frame.
Do you want to contribute to the development of joint procurement?
Since 19 September, the EdTech Marketplace pilot phase has been live. In this test phase we are looking for educational institutions to join the EdTech Marketplace, to validate its approach. We offer guidance throughout the whole procurement process. Are you interested and do you want to know more about the possibilities for your educational institution?
(Please note that our documents and initial communications are in Dutch, as this reflects the expectation that the project and placed request on the platform will be executed in Dutch.)
Working at an EdTech company?
This website is specifically designed to inform educational institutions. If you are u working at an EdTech company, sign up directly on Mercell, the digital environment of the EdTech Marketplace. There, you can respond directly to applications from institutions.
(Please note that our documents and initial communications are in Dutch, as this reflects the expectation that the project and placed request on the platform will be executed in Dutch. However, we are open to collaboration with EdTech providers across Europe. If a non-Dutch speaking partner can meet the language requirement or has a way to work within this context, they are more than welcome to join!)