LEARN AND SMILE DIGITAL CREATIONS SL

Their core work

Smile and Learn is a Madrid-based EdTech SME that develops digital educational content platforms for children, combining gamification mechanics with curriculum-aligned learning materials — the "edutainment" model. Their flagship product is a Smart Digital Library that delivers interactive stories, games, and educational apps through a subscription-based platform. They design, build, and operate the full product stack: content creation, software development, and platform delivery. Their EU-funded work validated and scaled this platform commercially, taking it from feasibility study to full product launch.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects run within a tight 2016–2018 window and represent a single product journey — Phase 1 feasibility followed by Phase 2 scale-up — rather than a broad research portfolio. There is no meaningful thematic shift to analyze because the work is continuous: validating a concept, then funding its market launch. The sector label changes from "Digital" to "Innovation & SME" between projects, but this reflects EU classification conventions rather than any change in Smile and Learn's actual focus.

Their H2020 track ends in 2018 after a completed SME Instrument Phase 1 → Phase 2 cycle, suggesting they used EU funding as a launch pad and have since been operating and growing the Smile and Learn product commercially rather than pursuing further research grants.

How they like to work

Smile and Learn operated exclusively as coordinator across both projects, which is typical of the SME Instrument — a solo-applicant funding scheme that does not require or form traditional consortia. As a result, they have zero recorded consortium partners in H2020, which says nothing negative about their collaboration capacity, only that they pursued a funding path designed for independent SMEs. Any future collaboration would likely see them as a product or content provider rather than a research lead.

Smile and Learn has no H2020 consortium partners on record, consistent with the SME Instrument model where companies apply and execute alone. Their network is product-side rather than research-side: app stores, school distribution channels, and B2C subscription markets.

What sets them apart

Smile and Learn is one of the few Spanish EdTech SMEs to have completed the full SME Instrument Phase 1 and Phase 2 cycle, validating both the business case and the technical execution of their platform. Their differentiation is in the intersection of children's digital publishing and gamified pedagogy — a niche that sits between pure game studios and academic ed-tech developers. For consortium builders, they offer a market-ready platform and a commercial distribution network for educational digital content in Southern Europe.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Smart Library (SME-2)
  The largest grant in their portfolio (€1.2M), this Phase 2 SME Instrument award represents the EU's competitive endorsement of their edutainment platform as a viable commercial product ready for market deployment.
• Smart Library (SME-1)
  The Phase 1 feasibility study that successfully unlocked the Phase 2 award — a sequential funding progression that few SME applicants complete, demonstrating strong proposal and business-model quality.