In particular, the article reflects on the present European debate on e-Learning, lifelong learning and ICT-driven innovation in EU education and training systems. Starting from analysing the terminological and conceptual crisis that the very concept of e-Learning seems to be undergoing at the moment, the article states that, paradoxically, the practice of using ICT to support learning processes seems to be more diffused and better articulated than ever before. Furthermore, while in the year 2000, e-Learning was perceived as a single mega-trend for education and corporate systems, experience has shown that this is not true. In fact, the purpose, the pedagogical models – or rather the learning patrimony – the organisation and the economic assumption of e-Learning are extremely differentiated, not only according to the learning sub-system (school, higher education, vocational training, etc.) but also according to the visions of the world of those in charge of promoting and designing e-Learning systems.

To better grasp these different kinds and visions of e-Learning far beyond the classical sector distinction, HELIOS is proposing the concept of e-Learning Territories, additional layers of differentiation and articulation of the “ICT for learning” phenomenon, able to better understand the present and future dynamics of e-Learning.

The relation between e-Learning and innovation in learning is then explored; the HELIOS results demonstrate that, apart from the terminological trends and hypes, the “ideal place” for new e-Learning is not where consolidated knowledge has to be spread but rather where new knowledge is developed, where innovation objectives are to be shared and achieved in a participative way.

There is then reflection on how HELIOS envisages e-Learning in the year 2010, and specifically on the different paces of change in different e-Learning territories. Typically, the speed observed is higher in informal learning environments, still relatively high in the corporate environment and rather low in institutional education and training.

As a general conclusion, the findings of the HELIOS observatory are that the new place for e-Learning as a catalyst of innovation and an enhancer of informal learning processes requires a completely new policy approach, in which education policy-makers are not the only, and maybe not even the main, actors. Learning has to be encouraged when and where it occurs: local and regional development policy-makers are very well placed to implement meaningful policies in this respect.