Espoo (Finland), July 2006 - Some 500 participants, including representatives from the fields of technology, education and training, research, industry, and governmental organisations gathered in Espoo to discuss the European vision of the role of technology in promoting lifelong learning, innovation, and desirable change. Held during the opening week of Finland's EU Presidency at the Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli of the Helsinki University of Technology, based in the heart of Espoo, Finland's trend-setting technology cluster, the hope for innovative ideas and approaches was definitely fulfilled.


The good news first: The "eLearning 2.0" wave has reached the EU mainstream. Many presentations covered the buzzwords blogs, wikis, folksonomies, tagging and informal learning and addressed the great potential the "social software" phenomenon could hold for learning in the future. While practical examples were relatively rare, Eun Semple, former Head of Knowledge Management at the BBC gave some interesting insights into ways social software is already being implemented in large corporations.


6,500 out of the total staff of 22.000 BBC employees today take part in wikis, blogs, etc. After launching a wiki for organizing the BBC's digital photography award, 450 staff members and 300 photographers gathered virtually. Nobody wanted a meeting! Semple's warning and advice: "Kids will use these tools anyway. If corporations don't let them do it safely within the firewall, they get into trouble anyway!"


There was no scientific data for the "eLearning 2.0" case, but figures presented by Yves Punie of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) tell their own tale:

• 80,000 blogs are created per day, doubling every five months
• after only three years, MySpace has over 65 million registered users, its webtraffic grew 752% in one year
• with over 60%, peer-to-peer is the fastest growing distribution protocol ever.

Punie commented, "This will influence the future of learning. There is a requirement for 'Learning Spaces', with real added values in terms of being connected, emotional, flexible, personal and recognized / certified." His conclusion for policy: "Think digital, not analogue+++!"


Numerous conclusions relevant for policy makers were reached during the three-day conference in Espoo. The results will contribute to the Commission's communication on the use of ICT to support innovation and lifelong learning, which is to be adopted later this year. Some of the recommendations and statements, especially those concerning the existing research funding policy, were quite critical.

Markku Markkula, EuroPace and Helsinki Universiy of Technology, Dipoli: "We need breakthrough projects. We have all the elements we need, but finally we have to put them together and start to implement! We don't really implement what we know."


Richard Straub, Avisory to the Chairman of IBM EMEA, and President of the eLearning Industry Group eLIG, stated in a similar vein: "We have lost the focus. We are in a state of fragmentation." According to Straub, disseminating knowledge has to be more institutionalized - maybe in a Center of Excellence. Besides fundamental research, Europe also has to address straightforward economic realities such as the fact that technology cannot be implemented without the critical mass. Other issues cited were that "Europe is running out of people- and -œLifelong earning is still optional, but it soon will become an absolute necessity".


These calls for action and change seem to be very well known in Brussels. The official conclusions presented by Maruja Gutierrez-Diaz, Head of Unit, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, signaled a change in policy.


"Despite the wealth of pilot projects, we lack a continuum of evidence-based data on what works for whom and under which conditions. Data are too often scattered within and across institutions, so that the lessons for our different experiences are being drawn only by limited numbers of people. It is time to consolidate the knowledge base at regional, national, and European levels."


Six years after the first eLearning initiative was launched, the situation has changed a lot. Gutierrez-Diaz: "Much has been done, but much remains to be done." This is why the Commission is preparing a Communication on -œThe use of ICT to support innovation and lifelong learning for all-, slated for adoption by the end of the year. "The focus of this work will be will be on how ICT can be made to enhance people's learning and to shape innovative learning processes and structures. While in the past the debate was about spreading awareness, increasing access and developing skills, today it's about keeping the momentum and turning the technology to value. This is because the technology is not an end in itself but part of a larger learning experience."


The Communication will also call for all stakeholders to pool their experiences and for the development of a coherent and integrated strategy framework. It will explore how ICT can be best integrated into lifelong learning.

Four drivers are identified:

• Broadening the uptake of ICT-enabled learning;
• Advancing the thinking on pedagogical innovations - ICT for learning;
• Building up of new partnerships;
• Connecting communities where learning takes place.

Some good news at the end: "ICT-enabled learning will continue to play its role as catalyst of innovation and education. However the approach will be different. We have decided to move forward and pool together the wealth of experiences and integrate them within the real context of schools, universities, the workplace, home, etc. In this way, we hope to address the problem of lack of visibility and coherence of results."