Innovative business models shaping accounting education in smart educational environments

The global smart education market is projected to reach $883.75 billion by 2028, driven by rapid advances in AI, adaptive learning systems, and digital platforms. These developments are reshaping higher education and require critical analysis of how innovative business models affect accounting education and professional readiness. This conceptual study develops a theoretical framework that links business model innovation with accounting education transformation. Drawing on platform theory, ecosystem thinking, and open innovation, the study identifies three archetypes of smart educational business models: subscription-based micro-credential systems, collaborative network ecosystems, and personalized professional development platforms. Existing literature has explored each of these dimensions in isolation, competency-based education, digital transformation in higher education, and platform economics, but no prior framework integrates them to explain how educational institutions can systematically innovate their business models to co-create value across a unified ecosystem. This framework addresses that gap by conceptualizing how the three archetypes function as interdependent, mutually reinforcing mechanisms rather than parallel pathways, mediated by a digital ecosystem layer that encompasses governance structures, stakeholder power relations, data ownership, and value capture logic. By positioning educational institutions as economic and socio-technical actors, not solely as pedagogical environments, the study offers a new analytical lens for understanding how accounting education can achieve scalable, adaptive, and sustainable transformation. The study contributes by extending business model innovation literature to the educational domain and providing strategic insights for transforming accounting education in the digital era.