This presentation explores how the UF Lastinger Center, under its statutory mandate as Florida’s statewide partner for research‑based professional learning and innovation, is designing an EduData R&D hub. The hub will leverage the state’s longitudinal data warehouse, the Lastinger Center’s secure Data Lagoon, UF’s HiPerGator supercomputer, and faculty researchers to create an engine for continuous improvement. The presentation outlines the hub’s emerging architecture along three dimensions: (1) data governance and privacy infrastructure, including the GADRRS data‑sharing agreement; (2) integrated data systems that facilitate rapid‑cycle evaluation of professional learning, curriculum, and educational technologies; and (3) cross‑sector partnerships that connect state agencies, school systems, researchers, and ed‑tech providers in a coherent R&D ecosystem. Framed by the King et al. (2023) meta-model for evaluating and designing professional learning, the presentation will use examples from statewide projects to show how evidence is being mobilised to redesign programs, inform policy, and align investments with demonstrated impact. The tensions inherent in advancing these projects, i.e., between data security and access for analysis and between rigorous research and timely reporting to inform decisions and policy, will also be explored. The presentation will conclude by proposing design principles for state‑ or national‑level R&D infrastructures.

King, F., Poekert, P., & Pierre, T. (2023). A pragmatic meta-model to navigate complexity in teachers’ professional Learning. Professional Development in Education, 49(6), 958–977. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2023.2248478