Regional EdTech Ecosystems in the United States and How Their Innovation Conditions Are Organized

How digital educational innovations emerge, scale up and become permanently embedded in the education system depends largely on their regional innovation environment. A study by the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit) compares three EdTech ecosystems in the USA and analyses which funding and transfer conditions foster innovation and how these are organized. The San Francisco Bay Area is characterized by capital-driven scaling, Boston by scientific evidence and an impact-oriented approach, and the Colorado Front Range by practice-oriented implementation. The comparison shows that sustainable innovations only emerge through the interaction of research, businesses, investors, educational institutions and intermediary actors. At the same time, tensions between technological dynamism, quality assurance and the requirements of institutional buyers become apparent. Whilst this does not provide any simple blueprints for Germany, it does offer concrete starting points: innovation funding should enable scaling and transfer whilst systematically safeguarding evidence, quality and the public interest.