The EdTech Exchange organised an insightful lunch event exclusively for a select group of prominent EdTech guests on Tuesday, 25 May in Farringdon, London. The event was expertly hosted by Dave Smith, and we were honoured to have John Jackson as our distinguished guest speaker.
A spirited discussion unfolded throughout a delectable three-course meal. The exchange of ideas encompassed a broad range of thought-provoking subjects. The discussions proved captivating as participants shared their diverse perspectives on various topics, including the role of Artificial Intelligence in education, strategies for establishing connections with schools and trusts, and the profound market transformations following the advent of the Covid pandemic.
A special thank you to Wonde for sponsoring the event and John Jackson for giving up his time to lead the conversation.
Special Guest Speaker – John Jackson, CEO, LGfL
John Jackson is the CEO of LGfL a not-for-profit charity serving thousands of schools across the UK with digital technology and services. John’s passion is the digital transformation of UK education and is seeking, with partners, to support the UK as a global leader in EdTech. John has incubated and scaled some of the world’s biggest EdTech projects and has supercharged broadband connectivity for UK schools with an ambition to create one of the fastest and most secure networks in the world at no extra cost to schools. Even though the current economic crisis, he is determined to freeze costs to schools during 2023.
He helped to found LGfL in 2001 and held senior leadership and advisory roles in both central and local government. He is passionate about harnessing digital innovation to inspire children and teachers to enable education transformation. John has been named in the top 25 IT Leaders in the UK and is currently a member of the DfE National EdTech Advisory Group. John most recently won the ERA Outstanding Achievement Award for accelerating the adoption of new technology in schools and his dedication to saving them money, keeping children safe, tackling inequality, energising teaching, and learning and promoting wellbeing. John wishes to harness his experience and skills of digital transformation and cross-sector working to help UK businesses grow and maximise their positive impact on children, teachers, schools, and the education system generally.
John has a long history of helping schools harness technology having been one of the first authorities in the country to put an internet-enabled connection in every classroom as part of the National Grid for Learning, too, accelerating cloud innovation across thousands of schools in 2019. John passionately believes in innovation and every day is inspired by the brilliant work of teachers, children and committed educationalists. John has also collaborated and supported the growth of UK suppliers.
About LGfL – The National Grid for Learning
Triple ERA and double BETT awards winner in 2022, LGfL – The National Grid for Learning is a charitable trust that is passionate about saving schools money, keeping children safe, tackling inequality, energising teaching and learning and promoting wellbeing. We don’t profit from schools we invest any surpluses back into education.
Our mission is the advancement of education, and our ambition is for UK schools to lead the world in digital innovation, enabling children of all backgrounds and abilities to achieve more whilst schools spend less.
Last year we delivered savings and added value totalling more than £50M to our 3,000+ member schools, whilst implementing some of the world’s biggest education technology projects.
Visit http://www.ngfl.net/ to find out more.
Edtech Exchange Sponsor: Wonde 
Wonde was officially created in 2015, but our business purpose and focus is built on years of collaborative relationships within the education sector. We have learned about the challenges and needs of today’s education providers and been inspired by their forward thinking, focus and determination.
Wonde’s data sync platform was built from understanding the pressure on schools to maintain and manage their data accurately, while adhering to data protection obligations. So Wonde created a simple platform where schools can quickly and securely maintain and manage their data while controlling how it is shared with third-party applications. Our product is now within over 27,000 schools in over 60 countries, managing 35 million individuals’ data.
Wonde are proud of our innovative products and how they enhance the experience of data management for schools, organisations, Apps and IT partners alike, but ultimately, we are helping to ensure pupils and teachers are supported and enthused and that’s what keeps us motivated.
Visit https://www.wonde.com/ to find out more.
