We often describe the past decade's growth of UNESCO-ICHEI as a process of "creating something from nothing", because much of our work has taken shape through continuous experimentation in practice. How to localise the IIOE curriculum across diverse national contexts? How to design digital literacy and AI capacity-building programmes that genuinely respond to the needs of our partner HEIs? How to transform smart classrooms into spaces that inspire pedagogical innovation? These are questions we have continued to explore over the past decade, and continue to revisit as education itself evolves. This issue brings together some of the people, stories and moments that have shaped the past decade.