#77 How Meaningful EdTech Reaches Schools | Marjo Kenttälä | Helsinki EdTech Testbed

What happens after a promising EdTech idea has been researched, developed and turned into a product?

In the third and final episode of our special Helsinki Education Hub series, we move from research and entrepreneurship to the challenge that ultimately determines whether educational innovation matters at all:

implementation.

Our guest, Marjo Kenttälä from the City of Helsinki, works with Testbed Helsinki, helping EdTech companies test and co-develop solutions together with schools, teachers and learners.

Marjo brings a unique perspective to this work. Before moving into educational innovation and economic development, she worked as a classroom teacher and vice principal. Today, she operates at the intersection of schools, cities, companies and educational innovation.

In this conversation, we explore what it actually takes for EdTech to move from a promising idea into real classrooms.

We discuss:

🔹 Why testing a finished product is often already too late
🔹 Why companies should involve teachers and learners early in product development
🔹 How real classroom environments expose problems that cannot be discovered behind a desk
🔹 Why pedagogy has to come before technology
🔹 Why technology should only be used when it creates real value for learning or teaching
🔹 What startups often misunderstand about teachers’ time and classroom realities
🔹 Why short, focused co-development processes can work better than year-long pilots
🔹 Why easy implementation and usability matter when teachers may have only 45 minutes with a class
🔹 How procurement differs between cities and municipalities, making scaling difficult even after a successful pilot
🔹 How GDPR, AI regulation and other requirements can slow down innovation while also protecting learners
🔹 Why open dialogue between companies, cities, educators and regulators is essential
🔹 Why Finland already has strong technology and research, but may still need more collaboration
🔹 How Helsinki’s existing ecosystem could become a model for stronger national collaboration across Finland
🔹 Why Marjo remains optimistic about AI and technologies that can reduce teacher workload and create more time for human interaction

One of Marjo’s clearest messages is that successful EdTech cannot be built around technology alone.

Companies need to understand the real users, enter classrooms, listen to teachers and learners, and be willing to change direction based on what they discover.

As Marjo puts it:

There has to be pedagogy before technology.

This final conversation brings together the central theme running through the entire Helsinki Education Hub series:

Meaningful educational innovation emerges when research, pedagogy, entrepreneurship, schools, cities and public institutions work together, and when good ideas are given a realistic path into practice.

🎙️ Finnish Education and Beyond Podcast
🎙️ Guest: Marjo Kenttälä
City of Helsinki / Testbed Helsinki

🎙️ Host: Joni AlWindi
🎬 Produced by: Andy Giler
🤝 In Collaboration with: Helsinki Education Hub

Helsinki Education Hub is powered by University of Helsinki, Business Helsinki and the City of Helsinki.

#EdTech #EducationalInnovation #Education #TestbedHelsinki #HelsinkiEducationHub #FinnishEducation #EducationTechnology #InnovationEcosystem #FutureOfEducation