IDEE

What IDEE does

IDEE (Innovations, Données et Expérimentations en Éducation) is a French publicly-funded EquipEx research program launched on 28 November 2022 under the Investissements d'Avenir framework, located at 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris. Piloted by J-PAL Europe at the Paris School of Economics and coordinated by Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL), it operates as an eight-institution consortium that includes PSE, CNRS, Sciences Po, University of Grenoble Alpes, CEA, PSL, ENS, and J-PAL. The program's mandate is to build large-scale experimental research capacity in education by providing researchers and education stakeholders with shared infrastructure, data, and methodological training, supported under ANR grant ANR-21-ESRE-0034 for an eight-year term covering 2021-2029.

The consortium delivers a portfolio of infrastructure and support services free of charge to its academic and policy users. Core deliverables include: a recurring scientific seminar series; methodological training programs for randomized controlled trials; a statistical power calculator; a platform providing access to the DEPP (Direction de l'évaluation, de la prospective et de la performance) education data; shared lending of behavioral research equipment; three MOOCs on experimental methods; and direct project support for partner studies. Its user base comprises French and international academic researchers, French Ministry of Education stakeholders (notably through Réseau Canopé), and education practitioners, all reached through a trilingual outreach (French, English, Spanish).

IDEE is structured as a non-commercial research consortium rather than a revenue-generating entity. Its financial model rests entirely on a fixed-duration public grant rather than recurring fees, with services positioned as "free for researchers and education stakeholders." The consortium operates with a staff of approximately 39 people based in Paris, and recent activity (the January 2025 Réseau Canopé partnership, the 2025-2029 CLIMASCO climate-education project, and the November 2025 Psychometrics Video Series) indicates an active mid-cycle program expanding both its research scope and its dissemination channels.

Name

IDEE

Legal name

Innovations, Données et Expérimentations en Éducation (IDEE)

Website

https://idee-education.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IDEE is a French publicly-funded research consortium delivering free experimental-research infrastructure in education—including DEPP data access, methodological training, statistical tools, and MOOCs—to academic researchers, French Ministry of Education stakeholders, and practitioners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Research Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Data Warehousing, ETL/ELT & Master Data Management (MDM) (EDADAIAB)

Keywords

• Education research
• Randomized evaluations
• Research methodology training
• Administrative data access
• Policy research services

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Research Funding: IDEE is an 'Equipement d'Excellence' (Equipment of Excellence) funded by the French State through the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) as part of the Investissements d'Avenir (Future Investments) program. Funding period: 8 years (2021-2029), reference: ANR-21-ESRE-0034.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

IDEE is a French research excellence program that supports large-scale experimental research in education by providing methodological support, training workshops, and resources to researchers, and by facilitating their access to French Ministry of Education administrative data, methodological tools, and measurement instruments. It also runs MOOCs, scientific seminars, and partnership-driven activities to disseminate evidence to teachers, education stakeholders, and policymakers.

Product overview

IDEE (Innovations, Données et Expérimentations en Éducation) is a research excellence platform that supports experimental research at scale in French education. The platform operates as a service portfolio rather than a unified software product, comprising methodological support, training, and resource services. Core offerings include Scientific Seminars (monthly online and annual in-person sessions), Methodological Training for Researchers (covering experimental designs, statistical power, and impact evaluation), a Power Calculator tool, a DEPP Data Access Platform (providing secure access to French Ministry of Education administrative data), an Equipment Loan Service (tablets and measurement instruments), training for education stakeholders, and three MOOCs on impact evaluation and poverty alleviation. The program is piloted by J-PAL Europe at Paris School of Economics and coordinated by PSL, funded by the French State through ANR for 2021-2029.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Scientific Seminars Monthly online seminars and three annual in-person thematic days at the École d'Économie de Paris presenting experimental research papers and methodologies, featuring RCT factory sessions for methodological consultation, for academic researchers in experimental education research.
• Methodological Training for Researchers Training workshops covering experimental designs, statistical power, research ethics with RGPD compliance, attrition management, and impact evaluation methodologies based on J-PAL/MIT recognized programs, designed for researchers designing and running randomized evaluations in education.
• Power Calculator

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• J-PAL Europe (Poverty Action Lab)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJ-PAL Europe serves as the piloting institution for the IDEE program, operating from the Paris School of Economics. As the coordinating entity, J-PAL Europe provides the methodological expertise and network that underpins IDEE's activities in randomized evaluations.
• Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPSL serves as the coordinating institution for IDEE, bringing together the multidisciplinary consortium of research laboratories in economics, sociology, psychology, cognitive sciences, and education sciences.
• French Ministry of Education / DEPPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Ministry of Education, through its Direction de l'évaluation, de la prospective et de la performance (DEPP), partners with IDEE to facilitate researcher access to administrative education data and promote evidence-based policies.
• Réseau CanopémajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRéseau Canopé collaborates with IDEE on joint webinars, training programs, and resources for education professionals. A formal partnership convention was signed in January 2025 to expand cooperation.
• Consortium Partners (PSE, CNRS, Sciences Po, UGA, CEA, ENS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIDEE brings together eight leading French research institutions including Paris School of Economics, CNRS, Sciences Po, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, and ENS as part of its multidisciplinary consortium.
• Office for Climate Education (OCE)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOCE partners with IDEE on the CLIMASCO project to evaluate the impact of teacher professional development on climate change education. This 5-year pilot project (2025-2029) is funded by the France 2030 program.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab): J-PAL is the global parent organization piloting IDEE through its Europe branch and supplies the RCT methodology, MOOC content, and global research network underlying IDEE's offerings. IDEE is effectively J-PAL Europe's education-focused research infrastructure vehicle for France.
• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF): EEF is a UK education evidence charity funding and disseminating randomized impact evaluations in teaching practice. It mirrors IDEE's combination of training, RCT funding, and stakeholder dissemination in a different national context.
• Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA): IPA is a global RCT-focused research organization founded alongside J-PAL with a near-identical methodology stack and educational-evaluation practice. It is comparable as a parallel evidence-based social-program research infrastructure operator that IDEE mirrors in the French education niche.
• Evidence Action: Evidence Action is a global non-profit that scales rigorously evaluated interventions, primarily in health and education. It is comparable to IDEE as an evidence-driven service organization converting RCT findings into operational programs and stakeholder-facing dissemination.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: RAND is a large, established policy-research institution that conducts rigorous education and social-policy evaluations and publishes evidence widely. It is comparable as a high-credibility, multi-method research body serving government and policy clients — far broader than IDEE's RCT-focused niche.
• OECD Directorate for Education and Skills: The OECD's education directorate produces cross-national evidence (PISA, TALIS) and policy briefs that shape government decisions — comparable to IDEE's evidence-to-policy positioning, but operating at an intergovernmental, comparative scale rather than national RCT infrastructure.
• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER): NBER is a US economics research organization convening working groups on education, labor, and children, and is broadly comparable as a research-network infrastructure hosting rigorous studies and methodological dissemination — overlapping with IDEE's seminar and training function.
• Mathematica Policy Research: Mathematica is a large US social-program research and evaluation firm doing rigorous impact studies — including in education — comparable to IDEE as a research-services provider but operating commercially and at much larger scale across multiple policy domains.
• Brookings Institution (Education program): Brookings runs high-profile education-policy research and uses rigorous methods to inform US and international education policy. It overlaps with IDEE on the researcher-to-policy translation role but operates as a broader think tank rather than an RCT infrastructure platform.

Emerging players

• What Works Network (UK): The UK's What Works Network is a collection of independent evidence centers producing and disseminating rigorous reviews for policy, including in education. It is comparable as a publicly-funded evidence intermediary network spanning data, training, and policy translation alongside IDEE in the French context.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/idee-education

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about IDEE