Digital Education Stakeholder Forum 2025
Tap into Europe’s digital potential
Who will attend
Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu will give the welcome address.
Stakeholders who will attend the Digital Education Stakeholder Forum include:
- Policymakers
- Educators
- Industry leaders
- Researchers
- Civil society representatives
Biography
Sean is an international media professional. For twenty years, he produced TV, radio and online news reports around the world for the BBC’s flagship news and current affairs programmes. For five years, Sean was the BBC’s Brussels Bureau Chief, running a large news team across Europe, covering major news events of the day.
Since 2013, Sean has worked as a media consultant, coach and event moderator for international organisations, governments, corporations, start-ups, think tanks and NGOs. He is comfortable working at all levels, from new starters to CEOs and presidents. He moderates high-level, international events; coaches on all aspects of interaction with the media and advises on media content and strategy. Sean also runs coaching sessions on online/webinar presentation skills. He is a qualified translator and is comfortable working in English, German and French. He offers his clients a wealth of hands-on experience and knowledge and is a highly competent team manager and motivator. Sean brings a high degree of professionalism to all his assignments – together with a touch of humour, for good measure.
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Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen is the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport at the European Commission. She took up this position on 16 September 2023, after holding the same position for four and a half years in the Commission’ Directorate General for Communication.
From March 2018, she served as Deputy Secretary General and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, she was also Director in the Directorate-General for Communication, in charge of the Commission’s Representations in the Member States. Between 2009 and 2014 she was Chief Spokeswoman of the European Commission; and Deputy Spokeswoman of the European Commission from 2004 until 2009 under former Commission President Barroso, also in charge of Planning and Coordination of the Spokespersons’ Service (SPP).
She began her career in political communication as Environment Spokeswoman in 1999 (Commissioner Margot Wallström), having previously held positions in the Commission’s departments for Industry (1995-97) and Information, Communication and Culture (1997-99). Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen was a Schuman Scholar at the European Parliament (1989-90). She studied Business Administration and Modern Languages at the Copenhagen Business School and Political Science at the Institut d’études Politiques de Paris, specialising in intercultural communication and European identity.
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We are a multidisciplinary, diverse and passionate team of young Peruvians who came together during the 28h Hackathon, held in the city of Lima, Peru, with the purpose of creating innovative and accessible solutions for everyone.
Together we developed Signedge, an application designed to break down the communication barriers faced by people with hearing disabilities, facilitating the learning of sign language in an accessible and interactive way. We combined knowledge and talent from our different disciplines (technology, engineering, marketing, design and architecture) to bring this proposal to life, with the conviction that technology, put at the service of inclusion, can be a powerful tool to improve people's quality of life and build a more accessible, equitable and inclusive world for all.
After completing our Bachelor’s in Psychology and Computer Science, we shared a vision (which inspired the name of our service, MyVision): to merge humanistic and scientific perspectives, using technology to empower users.
As Human-Computer Interaction students, we eventually found our path but faced significant challenges in identifying a Master’s program that aligned with our goals.
Now that we’re here, we’re excited to define our service’s mission: to support future generations of students and educational institutions.
Team members: Alberto Gravili, Antonio Palano, Matteo Sicuro, Alessandro Farí, and Gianluigi Leonardo Marcianò — five students from IISS "S. Trinchese" in Martano (LE), Italy.
During DigiEduHack, they developed AiCademy, an AI-powered study assistant designed around students’ schedules, needs, and goals. It helps learners stay organised with intelligent tools for planning, reviewing, and tracking their progress.
At the forefront of EdTech innovation, the EduMind team leverages advanced AI to tailor education to each learner’s needs. Their approach seamlessly integrates modern technology with proven pedagogy, turning traditional classrooms into dynamic, adaptive learning environments.
As DigiEduHack participants, they showcase how cutting-edge tools like AI can reduce teacher workload and ignite student engagement. Equally important, the team channels this innovation into social good — ensuring their solutions uplift under-resourced schools and drive meaningful educational change.
Theme 1. Collaboration for innovation
Biography
Beth Havinga is the Managing Director of the European EdTech Alliance and the EdSAFE AI Alliance having previously served as Managing Director oft he German Alliance for Education. Most recently, Beth has served on the special board of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economics in Austria, as an expert in the field of “digitalisation in apprenticeships", and as a member of the expert Platform, "Digital Future: Learning. Researching. Knowledge" of the German Digital Summit by invitation of the German federal Minister for Education. She is currently chair of the advisory board of Kids.Digilab.Berlin.
Beth has considerable experience developing interoperability standards frameworks, having represented Germany as head delegate to the European Committee for Standardization of Interoperability for Learning Technologies and EdTech, and has worked closely with multiple governments and data protection agencies on national definitions for data modelling and certification. In addition to creating her own consulting firm, Beth has taught in schools, managed education software and publishing houses, founded two startups, and worked with multiple education ministries, and corporations developing their digital education strategies.
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Theme 2. Digital skills for all
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Theme 3. Trend or here to stay? Education in a digital world
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Jan De Craemer is a staff member of the Knowledge Centre for Digital Education (Flemish Ministry of Education and Training). For more than 25 years, he has been responsible for ICT policies and initiatives in many different areas such as ICT-infrastructure, curriculum reform, in-service training and ICT for special needs.
He currently represents Flanders to the European Commission ET2020 Working Group on Digital Education (DELTA).
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Theme 1. Collaboration for innovation
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Theme 2. Digital skills for all
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Theme 3. Trend or here to stay? Education in a digital world
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Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva has been Director at the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC) since 2016. She is currently Director for Innovation, Digital Education and International Cooperation. She is responsible for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, which are key components of the Horizon Programme. She also coordinates the EU Digital Education Action Plan.
Antoaneta joined the European Commission in 2008. She has occupied various management and expert positions across the Commission and dealt with a wide range of topics such as external relations and enlargement, internal security and police cooperation, cyber security, stakeholder relations and international affairs. Antoaneta has also worked as a diplomat to the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria to the EU in Brussels for five years. She is a graduate in political science at Sofia University, with training and qualifications in European studies from Germany (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung) and the UK (Sussex University).
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