Venture-capital Investment in technology related to education jumped from a global $500 million in 2010 to $7 billion in 2019, according to consultants Deloitte. Deloitte says by 2025 global expenditure on edtech will reach $341 billion. But Australia’s share of the business is tiny.

In its second Edtech Market Census, Deloitte said China made up 53 per cent of education technology spending in the past decade and the United States 33 per cent, while Australia was lumped in with “rest of world”, which added up to 5 per cent.

Deloitte partner and education lead Colette Rogers said despite this poor share, the number of edtech firms In Australia had risen from 350 in 2017, when the census was first done, to 600 in 2019.

Of these, the number reporting revenue of $15,000 or less had decreased from half in 2017 to a third In 2019.

“Australian edtech developers need a global orientation,” she said “That’s where investment interest is being directed. Edtech companies need to pay more attention to the products that can be scaled.

“Increasingly the focus is on schools. And after that university and vocational. And it has a big role to connect students with employers, which is what the government is increasingly interested in.”

The chief executive of industry organisation EduGrowth, David Linke, said  people often misunderstood the reach of the sector. Edtech was not just about developing software to teach maths. Administration, credentialling and university research management were three growth areas.

Teaching applications had expanded way beyond learning programs. Universities use software to identify students at risk of failing as early in the term as possible. Online exams have been around for years but there is a new interest in using technology to supervise exams in real time, an electronic version of the old-fashioned exam invigilator.