All eyes on India – leading the edtech revolution

ISE Insights

All eyes on India – leading the edtech revolution

ISE Insights

Education technology (edtech) has always been a key focus at ISE. For 2025 a leading content topic – and the title of the Education Technology Summit – will be ‘Intelligent Digital Learning’ exploring the impact that AI, algorithms, automation, and AV are having in the classroom and beyond.

One country that is successfully rolling out intelligent digital learning is India.

With a population of 1.4 billion people speaking over 22 official languages, India has identified the opportunities for harnessing AI and digital learning to increase accessibility and develop nationwide education systems.

As a result, India has significantly increased investment in edtech, including funding for digital education programmes and incentives to buy from local edtech manufacturers. This approach is proving successful, and all eyes are on India with good reason: education in India is almost unrecognisable compared to just a few years ago.

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Key features of India’s new approach to education include India’s National AI Skilling Framework,  connected classrooms and AI-focused universities. In 2024, India was ranked as the world’s number one best-represented nation in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for its pursuit of sustainable development goals, many of which are relevant to the country’s wider social and economic goals.

But what has underpinned this impressive transformation? How has India established itself as a leading light in edtech? And how can education providers in other regions replicate its success?

Extensive government investment

The Union Government in India has made digitising over a million public education schools a top priority over the last 10 years. Its Digital India programme has a projected spend of $1.7 billion between 2021-26, and in the latest union budget, 6.6% of the overall GDP is expected to be spent on education alone.

This investment is supported by the National Education Policy 2020, which set out plans for vastly increased access to higher education. It also emphasised digital learning, hybrid models, and AV-equipped classrooms, underscoring AV as a core element of the future educational landscape in India. Together, these policies have provided the structural support that has allowed edtech to flourish.

This sustained governmental focus on digitising education has been a key growth factor for AV and IFPD (interactive flat panel display) development in particular – the Digital India project is a huge undertaking that has involved introducing technology such as IFPDs and digital whiteboards across urban and rural regions alike.

But it’s important to remember that government intervention shouldn’t be a prerequisite for edtech innovation. With a proactive approach and the right solutions in place, education providers should be able to follow India’s example in any location.

Embracing a hybrid model

Hybrid collaboration is now a key consideration for any pursuit that requires effective communication and is also an aid to accessibility. The proliferation of AV tech-enhanced classrooms across India has expedited hybrid learning models that are helping with the scalability of education initiatives, allowing students nationwide to benefit from both digital and in-person learning experiences.

In turn, this has led to increased demand for the tools and technologies required to deliver hybrid education in the most effective way, creating a flywheel that facilitates continuous edtech innovation.

For example, AV-enabled, multi-language and culturally adapted content has allowed educational materials to be tailored to students from diverse backgrounds, breaking linguistic barriers and increasing their effectiveness across broader populations as a result.

Local manufacturers, global leaders

India’s Union Government has also used its Digital India platform to boost local manufacturing through its Make in India initiative. Companies that manufacture edtech products in India receive a ‘Make in India’ tag that leads to preferred status over non-Indian OEMs in government tenders.

This incentive to produce locally has created a thriving ecosystem for AV manufacturing which helps to push edtech innovation further, continually improving the overall student experience over the long term.

But the success isn’t entirely due to regional startups. Indian edtech giants such as Byju’s, Vedantu, and Unacademy are harnessing AV tools to create education platforms of an international standard, incorporating engaging content and video lessons to provide adaptive, pioneering learning experiences.

The reputation that India has cultivated as a hotbed of edtech innovation has also attracted investment from overseas organisations looking to expand their international footprint.

India’s unique combination of large-scale government investment, local manufacturing and edtech innovation has allowed the country to establish itself as a strong leader in the global edtech revolution, particularly from an AV perspective. Education providers looking to embrace the next generation of digital classroom could do worse than follow in India’s footsteps.

Stay informed!

ISE is the world-renowned annual tech show for the AV and systems integration industry, taking place in Barcelona, 4-7 February 2025. It will spotlight the latest edtech solutions from leading manufacturers, including interactive displays, collaboration tables and lecterns, wireless presentation and collaboration systems, projectors, visual collaboration solutions and much more.

To discover the latest solutions and innovations from the edtech suppliers exhibiting at ISE, as well as the hottest industry trends, sign up now for updates.

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