Radboud University
Mirko Lukacs, the father of four now-student children, has been the innovation manager at National Education Lab AI (NOLAI) since 1st April 2023. During the start-up, it quickly became clear that there was a need for expertise around scaling up prototypes to concrete products for the education market. Mirko has that expertise, including with e-learning innovations from Utrecht University, and faces a new challenge.
Every year, NOLAI starts 10 to 15 co-creation projects based on concrete questions from practice. At school and in the classroom, the education lab investigates whether and in what form AI can support the teacher and student in the learning process. This produces promising prototypes, but a prototype is not yet a product nor ready for large-scale use in the education market. Mirko: "There is still a gap there among start-ups, also known as the valley-of-death".
Mirko: "In our co-creation projects, we develop a concept, prototype and validate it in three years. It is important to consider early on what happens next because you have no use for technology if people don't use it. That can't be the intention. Ultimately, the most important thing is that we help schools and that the product lands in the classroom one way or another. We, therefore, want to scale up our prototypes in various ways. That takes time, expertise and money." To make this happen, Mirko sees several approaches.
Mirko: "The most obvious route for launching new technology is through a start-up. In the Netherlands, we are fans of this. However, we also know that few of these start-ups succeed, partly because the market demand is often overestimated. It then turns out that there is no need for the solution offered after all, or people do not have the money (to spare). This is precisely why NOLAI does not start with what is technically possible but focuses on the needs of the school and teacher."
NOLAI does not only look at start-ups for scaling up but deliberately chooses cooperation and co-creation with existing parties to innovate the education market. Mirko: "From the very beginning, we work together with all kinds of players in the education market. For instance, we work with schools and scientists, as well as with SMEs, educational publishers and EdTech providers. They not only have the know-how but also the management organisation for new products with AI. They know the market, and that increases the chances of success."
Mirko sees another opportunity to bring products to the education market, one opportunity where schools themselves can also play a role. "I am very keen on the possibilities of open learning tools and open-source software. For example, a tool like Moodle is widely used for e-learning development. It is an open platform. It works, it is free, and anyone can freely contribute to the software. This avenue of approach is also worth exploring. It would be nice if NOLAI can play an exemplary role in this".
The importance of responsible AI use in education is obvious; no one needs to convince schools and governments of that. The National Growth Fund has earmarked €63 million for scaling up. Mirko: "We have a great starting position to bring innovation into the education market. Our scaling-up plan will be submitted to the Ministries of Economic Affairs and OC&W in early 2024." At NOLAI, we are already confident!
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