Multilateralism and Global Collaboration in Education

Hello, ISSIPers!

As ISSIP’s Ambassador to 28 Digital, I have the privilege of working at the intersection of education innovation, digital transformation, and global collaboration—especially across Europe, Africa, and East Asia, including China. These regions are not just educational geographies—they are co-creators in the emerging global architecture of learning.

I was recently in Paris for UNESCO’s Digital Learning Week 2025. At the entrance of UNESCO’s headquarters, a quote greets every visitor:

“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.”

These words—so simple, yet so profound—remind us that the most enduring infrastructures to be built are not physical but cognitive, ethical, and relational. In today’s age of global disruption and digital transformation, I’ve come to believe that education is the frontline of peace-building—and multilateralism is its architecture.

Our recent work to expand Advanced Education across Europe, Africa, and East Asia (including China) reinforced this: multilateral collaboration in education is no longer optional. It’s the only way to design learning experiences that are inclusive, anticipatory, and globally relevant.

🧩 Education as a global service system

Education today is a networked service shaped by policy, platforms, people, and values. But unlike private services, it carries a public mission: to build human capabilities and shared futures.

At the UNESCO conference, I observed cross-regional collaborations that reflect this complexity. For example:

• Modular credentials and digital wallets that follow learners across borders.
• Triangular partnerships (e.g., Europe–Africa–China) focused on co-developing teacher training programs and vocational education labs.
• AI-powered learning systems designed with global ethics frameworks in mind.

What’s emerging is a new generation of service design in education, one that blends interoperability with inclusion, and standardization with contextual sensitivity.

🌍 From transfer to co-creation

The shift is clear in the education sector: we’re moving from knowledge transfer to knowledge co-creation. At 28 Digital, our work in educational design reflects a broader transformation: rather than exporting models, we’re co-creating them—partnering with institutions across Africa, Asia, and Europe to craft learning solutions that are locally grounded yet globally relevant.

The service design insight? Trust, agency, and adaptability must be designed in—across every layer: content, technology, delivery, and governance.

🤝 Multilateralism as infrastructure

In this model, multilateralism is not diplomacy—it’s infrastructure. A form of shared design space. And like any infrastructure, it must be resilient, interoperable, and values-driven.

As ISSIPers, we might ask:

• How do we apply service innovation frameworks to design equitable global learning systems?
• Can we prototype and iterate education at the scale of continents, not just classrooms?
• And how do we ensure learners become co-producers, not just consumers, of knowledge?

🔍 Final thought

If conflict begins in the mind, so does peace. And education is the service through which peace can be designed: relationally, systemically, and globally.

Let’s keep designing better futures, together.

Until next time,

Andrea Biancini
ISSIP Contributor