We are proud to announce that The Learning Rooms is a Gold sponsor of Learnovation 2026, taking place on Thursday 8 October at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Learnovation is the annual summit run by the Learnovate Centre, the learning technology research centre based at Trinity College Dublin and backed by Enterprise Ireland.
It brings together leaders from education, industry, research and innovation for a full day of talks, panels and conversation about the future of work and learning. If you care about where learning is heading, this is the room you want to be in.
This year’s theme
Learnovation 2026 asks a question we think about constantly: what are the human skills that power the AI world? As artificial intelligence changes how organisations operate, the summit turns the spotlight on creativity, critical thinking, communication, adaptability, collaboration and leadership.
That framing matters. Most of the AI conversation in our industry has focused on speed and volume, which tools produce content fastest and how much time they save. Learnovation flips it around and asks what people need to get better at as the technology takes on more of the routine work. Those are exactly the skills that are hardest to teach and easiest to neglect.
Why we are backing it
We have spent the past year putting our own house in order on AI. We implemented our usage and governance policy for the team, mapped where AI genuinely helps across our eXACT development process and drew clear lines around where it does not belong. Accessibility and quality never take a back seat to efficiency in our work, so every decision has come with a fair bit of debate.
Sponsoring Learnovation gives us a chance to compare notes with people wrestling with the same questions. It also connects us to the research side of the sector rather than just the vendor side, which we value. Learnovate does serious work on learning science and technology and we would rather build our practice on evidence than on hype.
Speakers we are looking forward to
The line up runs to dozens of speakers and panellists from Ireland and abroad, and these are a few of the sessions on our list:
- Kate O’Neill, known as the Tech Humanist, who works with organisations on balancing technology with human centred values and was one of Netflix’s first 100 employees
- Elliott Masie of the Masie Learning Foundation, who coined the term eLearning and has advised global organisations on learning and workplace transformation for decades
- Dr Nigel Paine, formerly Head of Learning and Development at the BBC, whose recent work looks at how organisational learning helps businesses thrive as AI reshapes work
- Greta Stahl, Vice President of Organisational Learning and Development at Workday, on building learning that helps people grow in an AI powered workplace
- Dr Brian Pennie, neuroscientist and resilience specialist, on how individuals and organisations build resilience through periods of rapid change
You will find the full programme and speaker biographies on the Learnovate website.
Come and talk to us
Our team will be there for the whole day and we would genuinely enjoy a conversation. These are the topics we tend to end up talking about:
- Making eLearning for everyone, including screen reader users, and why we test rather than assume
- Where AI actually earns its place in an instructional design workflow and where it quietly damages quality
- Building custom courses for Irish organisations that need to reflect local regulation and local context
- Giving in house teams the tools to build their own content well through the eXcolo Toolkit
Bring your difficult questions. They tend to make for the best conversations.
Getting your ticket
Learnovate manages registration through Eventbrite and standard registration is open. Last year’s summit drew more than 600 registrants from 278 different organisations, and nine in ten attendees said they made useful connections on the day. Places do go, so it is worth booking sooner rather than later.
See you at the Aviva
We are delighted to support Learnovation again this year alongside our fellow Gold sponsors. If you plan to attend and want to arrange a proper chat rather than a quick hello between sessions, get in touch and we will find a slot in the day.
