History

LANETO Profile

LANETO is a private company based in Brussels, founded in 2011 by a group of educational experts. It is providing individual learning solutions and developing innovative educational services.

LANETO is convinced that a new approach is necessary to deal with the increased student numbers and other challenges in society. It is know from Scott (1995) that mass education means more than moving from elite to mass education. It should respond to changes in the nature of society and the structure of the economy (post-industrial), shifts in intellectual culture (impact of post modernism) and in science and technology (new models of knowledge production). 

The changing societal conditions or challenges include the following: changing patterns of diversity (cultural and social); the ICT revolution which is reinventing or supplementing the core technology and the business and organizational model of higher education; improvements in institutional and academic quality; contributions to economic productivity; post-secondary re-learning or life long learning; and globalization of scholarship (Peterson, Dill, 1997).

For LANETO it has become clear that a mere multiplication or expansion of the existing model and infrastructure will not be sufficient, as new needs, demands and groups of potential ‘customers’ have to be addressed, including older students, working students, lifelong learning students and demands from companies. As a result, the growth of knowledge and the educational needs of society are beyond the control of the traditional institutions. In the knowledge society, many other providers are creating, maintaining and distributing knowledge.

An entire industry for providing educational services to society is now competing in a market place for students, faculty, and public and private funding. Market forces and societal demands are reshaping the industry. The bargaining power of “customers” (students are learners with individual educational needs) and “suppliers” (other knowledge-based firms) has increased. Threats of new organisational entrants and substitute services exist. Innovation in the core technology is taking place. The intensity of the competition in the knowledge industry from telecommunications and corporate education gives way to rapid changes (Porter, 1980, Peterson, Dill, 1997). The result of the current financial and economical crisis may be that the restructuring will take place faster (Sapir, 2009).

LANETO is active in all fields related to education, from consultancy to production and evaluation of training and education. Among its clients are: companies, non-profit organisations, ministries and the public sector.

 

The idea

The basic idea of the Learning Agency Network goes back to March 2009. At this time, Rolf Reinhardt has just become a freelancer and serving his first client, one of the leading organisations in the field of healthcare software in Germany. The purpose was to create an eLearning courseware on the companies's software solutions, which was a task that could not be done by one single person. As the support of a network was needed, the idea was born to launch an organisation with the objective to connect clients and providers.

In a first version of a business plan, several key-elements were mentioned:

  • “It is the mission of the LANETO to satisfy the individual needs of clients with holistic state-of-the-art approaches based on specialists from the fields learning management, learning technology and pedagogy.“
  • “For each demand, special teams are grouped. They are either small companies or individuals.”
  • “Beside these operational activities, the LANETO searches the exchange with academic networks, to identify future trends which are considered for the selection of partners.”
  • “Finally the contact to policy representatives is seen as the basis for sustainable prosperity of the LANETO and its markets through laws and guidelines.”
  • “The network shall save fix costs which are occurring in particular in big companies.”

From April 2009 to April 2011, Rolf Reinhardt was working for the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL) and could only develop the LANETO part-time, however 26 freelancers joined the wider network circle of the LANETO already. From May 2011 onwards, the Learning Agency Network has moved its headquarter to Boulevard du Souverain 34 in Brussels. In addition, two specialists were appointed to serve the LANETO as directors: Anne-Marie De Jonghe and Hilal Jarar.

Outgoing from the initial elements in the business plan, further refinements have been done:

  • The brokerage service can be done between provider and clients - the LANETO is just facilitating the contacts resp. forwarding the request of the client to listed providers. 
  • The idea of grouping teams is manifested in the idea of establishing an innovative service. Means that this service can be used not only for one client, but can be repeated. However, the collaboration in the teams is key of success.
  • Every service is targeting either individual, organisational or societal growth - seeing every field as related to each other, which one can define as a systemic approach.
  • A new service can be boosted by a business incubator. In this process, the LANETO is undertaking always the same steps that a service has to go through (definition of a vision&mission, elaborating a budget, proving the service in the market, positioning the service via marketing etc.).

The overall objective of the Learning Agency Network is now to facilitate specific learning solutions in 3 dimensions: horizontal such as consultancy services for organisations, educational organisations, governments etc.), vertical (consultancy, coaching, training material production etc.) and geographical (in every country).