X5GON: Building the World’s Largest AI-Powered OER Ecosystem

EdTech startup X5GON is transforming education accessibility by using AI to unlock the potential of Open Educational Resources (OERs) for learners worldwide.

Originally a three-year EU-funded project, X5GON developed an AI-driven platform to collect, enrich, and connect Open Educational Resources (OERs), breaking down barriers in education related to language, culture, and geography. To accelerate its growth and reach, project lead Sahan Bulathwela joined cohort 6 of the CDI Impact Accelerator, focusing on scaling the technology for broader adoption. 

With a database of over 150,000 OERs, X5GON saw new opportunities in AI to drive precision education. Through the CDI Accelerator, the team migrated its core system to AWS, enhancing speed and scalability, enabling them to serve learners more effectively across the globe. 

Addressing Fragmentation in OER Access 

OERs have the potential to make education more affordable and accessible, especially in underserved regions. However, they are often scattered across isolated platforms without a central indexing system, making it difficult for educators and students to find relevant resources. Language and cultural differences further limit their accessibility, while most platforms lack intelligent recommendation systems to personalise learning. 

This fragmentation prevents educators from collaborating on curricula and hinders access to relevant educational content for diverse learners. 

Revolutionising Education with a Connected OER Ecosystem 

X5GON is reshaping how OERs are accessed and used, ensuring educational resources are available to learners everywhere. The platform’s AI-driven system connects scattered educational materials to students and educators based on their unique needs. 

As Sahan explains, "X5GON identifies and enriches hundreds of thousands of educational materials, making them discoverable for learners from all backgrounds." Using a scalable content ingestion engine, X5GON processes a range of content types—videos, text, PDFs, and more—and makes these resources more discoverable and useful. 

With AI-powered discovery tools, X5GON personalises learning by linking resources based on relevance, user preferences, and learning patterns. This ensures content is not only easy to find but accessible in multiple languages, bridging the global education gap. Through the X5Learn platform and the X5GON API, learners can engage with OERs, and third-party platforms can integrate tailored recommendations. 

Accelerating Growth with the CDI Impact Accelerator 

Technical Acceleration: 

Before joining the CDI Accelerator, X5GON’s content ingestion system was slow and inefficient. The platform struggled with processing new materials, often facing delays from shared resources and administrative bottlenecks. 

With CDI’s support, X5GON adopted cloud-native technologies on AWS, enabling dynamic scaling and faster real-time updates. The results were striking—tasks that previously took months, such as transcribing 500 thirty-minute videos, now take just three hours, boosting efficiency by 700%. 

The Accelerator also helped improve security and compliance, building trust with governments and institutions handling large-scale educational data. 

Business Acceleration: 

The Accelerator was instrumental in refining X5GON’s business strategy. Initially focused on securing government contracts, the team collaborated with CDI business experts to pivot towards smaller B2B services. This shift enabled faster revenue generation and served as proof points for larger-scale government deals. 

The Path Ahead 

X5GON is on track to become the world’s largest OER directory, outpacing the next largest by hundreds of thousands of materials. To accelerate its growth and establish itself as a global platform, the team is focusing on three key areas: expanding public sector partnerships, growing the OER repository, and securing large-scale funding. 

By continually enhancing its capabilities and expanding its global reach, X5GON is driving a more connected and inclusive educational ecosystem, ensuring that high-quality learning resources are accessible to everyone, regardless of language, location, or background.