There is much innovation to be found in the field of Educational Technology, both in its design and in its use. However, this innovation is patchy and inconsistent and rarely informed by research evidence or effective research practice. When reviewing work from within academia, commerce and educational practice it is clear that vital information about the context of the innovative work is unrecorded and that the relationships between researchers, developers and practitioners rarely exist. The production of effective innovations in the design and use of educational technology will rely upon these key relationships being fostered and strengthened. Developers need to be aware of existing evidence and able to use sound research methods to evaluate their products, researchers need to work with developers to help them acquire the knowledge and skills, and educators must be part of the process through their input to the design and evaluation of the technologies being developed.

In his recently published book Is Technology Good For Education? Professor Neil Selwyn encourages us to think critically about the trend of a wide adoption of technology in education and to consider, in a dispassionate manner, the unintended consequences of digital education. He calls for more ‘grown-up debates to take place around the complexities and contradictions of technology and education’ (p.159) and challenges us to reflect on whether technology makes education more democratic, personalised, measurable and commercial.

EDUCATE is a London-based programme that supports the development of research-informed educational technology (EdTech), allowing entrepreneurs and start-ups to create their products and services, and simultaneously grow their companies in a more evidence-informed manner. The programme partners businesses with researchers who mentor, guide and support this research journey, a key aspect of which is the evaluation of the company’s EdTech product or service. However, conducting impact evaluations of technology in education is challenging, particularly for early stage technologies, as rapid cycles of innovation and change are part of their essence. Here, we present the pragmatic approach to evidence-informed education technology design and impact evaluation, as developed and adopted by the EDUCATE programme. The research process is shaped by the core principles of evidence-informed decision making detailed in the paper. The contributions of the paper are threefold. First, it defines and details an academia-industry-education collaboration model centred on a research training programme. Second, it presents emerging impact results of the programme. Third, it provides clear reflections on the challenges encountered during the implementation of the model in the EdTech ecosystem of London, which should be addressed if we are to move towards evidence-informed EdTech globally.