South African EdTech Week 2025: Building EdTech Readiness in Under-Resourced Contexts

Join us at EdTech Week 2025 from 28 to 30 October at UVU Africa, Brickfield Canvas in Cape Town. Now in its fourth year, this three-day event is a key fixture on the African EdTech calendar, brought to you in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and UVU Africa.

This year’s theme, Building EdTech Readiness in Under-Resourced Contexts, highlights that while EdTech can help close persistent educational gaps in South Africa, actual impact requires moving beyond access. Schools, educators, and learners need to be prepared to adopt and integrate digital tools meaningfully. Readiness is about strengthening the ecosystem through evidence, collaboration, and capacity building to support digital learning solutions and improve educational outcomes sustainably.

Each day of the programme has been designed to spark dialogue and encourage collaboration that moves beyond the event and into practice.

Day One: Bringing the Under-Resourced Classroom to Life

Day one focuses on the realities of under-resourced classrooms. Teacher attendance is essential, as their voices will shape the discussions and co-creation sessions. Expect:

• TEDx-style presentations offering expert insights on teacher readiness, behavioural barriers, and blended learning strategies
• An interactive panel discussion where attendees can explore challenges and opportunities together
• A hands-on innovation lab to co-create a practical Innovation Design Framework that addresses real classroom needs
• A collaborative synthesis session where groups present their findings and contribute to a framework that benefits the wider ecosystem

Day Two: Collaboration for Scalable Integration

The second day shifts the conversation from barriers to partnerships. It focuses on how collaboration across the education ecosystem can make EdTech more sustainable. Highlights include:

• A public sector and civil society panel featuring education department representatives and social change leaders
• An investment and funding panel with impact investors, CSI leaders, and venture philanthropists
• Purposeful networking sessions, including speed networking, World Café discussions, and structured conversations to build lasting partnerships

Day Three: Partnerships in Practice

The final day celebrates innovation and collaboration in action. With keynote addresses and solution spotlights, the focus is on practical pathways to partnership. Expect:

• Keynotes from the Mastercard Foundation and partner organisations sharing their perspectives on the future of education
• Solution spotlights from 12 EdTech Fellows showcasing tested innovations designed for African contexts
• Partnership exploration sessions where attendees can engage directly with innovators, exchange feedback, and identify collaboration opportunities

What Guests Will Gain

EdTech Week 2025 is about creating real impact in South African education. Attendees will better understand barriers to innovation adoption, evidence-based classroom strategies, and practical guidance on blended learning. They will leave with insights into how value flows across the ecosystem and concrete approaches to building effective partnerships.

Importantly, every participant will later receive the Innovation Design Framework, an asset co-created during the week, that can be applied within their organisations long after the event. Guests will also build connections with collaborators, funders, and innovators, while exploring new partnership opportunities and actionable ideas for their own initiatives.

At a time when under-resourced schools face growing pressure to deliver quality education, events like EdTech Week play a vital role in creating the space for open dialogue, evidence-sharing, and co-creation. By bringing together educators, policymakers, investors, and innovators, the week strengthens the collective ability of the ecosystem to make EdTech adoption both meaningful and sustainable. We hope that the conversations and frameworks developed here will continue to shape practice long after the event closes, ensuring that progress is actively built into the future of education in South Africa.

—

About Injini 

Injini is a registered Non-Profit Company that exists for the sole purpose of improving educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. The company was founded in 2017 and remains the only EdTech specialised accelerator in Africa. Injini’s various programmes and research, via the Injini Think Tank, all contribute towards its mission to increase the quality, accessibility, and relevance of education in the region. 

For more information on Injini, please visit https://www.injini.africa/ 

About Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation is a registered Canadian charity and one of the largest foundations in the world. It works with visionary organizations to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the Foundation is an independent organization separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa. Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and leadership.

For more information on the Foundation, please visit www.mastercardfdn.org

About UVU Africa

UVU Africa is a non-profit organisation dedicated to driving inclusive economic growth across Africa. Founded 25 years ago in Cape Town, UVU Africa has grown from a single-city tech hub into a pan-African ecosystem orchestrator. With hubs in South Africa and Rwanda, UVU Africa supports resilient entrepreneurs, provides industry-aligned skills development and accelerates businesses in high-growth sectors like BioTech, EdTech, CreativeTech, AgriTech and Digital Public Infrastructure. 

For more information on UVU, please visit https://uvuafrica.com/ 

‍