As we look back on 2024, we're once again struck by the incredible optimism, energy and shared commitment made toward our mission. Last year was a powerful testament to what we can achieve together, with purpose, passion, and inspiration driving us one step closer to agency and opportunity for all.

Looking ahead to 2025, we recognize the challenge that lies ahead, but it’s from this certainty of adversity we see boundless potential for positive change. Together, we can—we must—support the equitable translation of leading-edge technologies, and empower individuals to arrive and thrive regardless of their circumstance. This is our mandate, both as a community and shared humanity. 

With this framing, we wanted to once again share a sample of highlights from the past year, both to celebrate our successes but also illuminate the path ahead.

Most notably, we are thrilled to announce our new North Star, The Skyway, a transformative new initiative marking an end to the "season of pilots" and the beginning of scalable and sustainable “flight paths.”

Launched during the 2024 UN General Assembly, in partnership with PVBLIC Foundation, The Skyway represents a new global beacon for promise and prosperity. Leveraging the success of LearnCard, The Skyway signals a pivotal shift at LEF from research and development to global adoption and impact. At its core is the launch of a global learning passport, and connected ecosystem of educators, learning programs, and learner-centered innovations—read more here.

With more than 20 cohorts (50+ organizations) identified as potential Skyway candidates, and 6 supported directly by the Walton Family Foundation actively in development and impacting learners, we’re excited to launch this initiative in earnest in 2025. 

Here’s just a sample of the amazing, mission-aligned organizations involved: World Scouting, Sesame Workshop, Roblox, Pope France’s Foundation: Scholas, Aspen Institute, The Stevens Initiative, Google, Connxus, Minecraft, Filament Games, LearningFREQUENCY, INFERable, Emergenetics, ThinkHumanTV, Animoca Brands, Open Campus, the UN Family Offices for Sustainable Development (FOFSD), and many more…

To further amplify The Skyway on the global stage, LEF and our partners at Diplomatic Courier have hosted a series of events, including a roundtable on January 20th in Davos titled, Searching for Common Ground: Diplomacy and the Art of Consensus. 

Here’s a recap of the other projects and accomplishments from 2024.

• World Scouting Goes Verifiable: We brought agency and mobility to thousands of new learners by expanding and deploying LearnCard within a variety of new ecosystems, including the expansion of ScoutPass, which enabled the issuance of over 200k verifiable credentials. We’re excited to further this momentum into 2025 and beyond via The Skyway, as we scale to 57 Million scouts in 174 Nations by 2030.
• Guardian Gateways for Engagement: In response to parental concerns, we’ve developed Gatekeepers to Guardians (G2G), a streamlined engagement layer for teachers and parents. This program includes a credentialed course that grants access to a hub of tools such as gaming analytics, an AI guide, and curated learning games and programs. This initiative strengthens the role of parents and teachers as guides, ensuring they remain actively engaged in the learning process.
• Five Data Capture Methods: We developed a framework that respects learner privacy and diversity through five methods—digital experiences, manual reporting, formal learning, event-based learning, and sensor-based learning—providing a comprehensive way to connect any system, app, or program to the Skyway infrastructure.
• National Tech Transfer through TEE: The Transforming Education Exchange (TEE), a global platform for educational innovation and technology transfer, has invested over $2 million to enhance  scalability. In collaboration with the PVBLIC Foundation, the United Nations, and over 100 countries, TEE is modernizing education systems worldwide. Initial deployments are set for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) under the Antigua and Barbuda Accords, a ten-year economic framework running from 2024 to 2034.
• Investment in LearningFREQUENCY: Alongside Gates Ventures, Animoca Brands, Open Campus, and Operation Kids, LEF partnered with and invested in LearningFREQUENCY to help learners understand their own unique learning and engagement preferences through metacognitive reflection, while empowering guardians to support them across all learning environments. We are currently deploying an app-wide integration for LearnCard to further enhance this ecosystem and provide seamless support for personalized learning journeys.
• Expanding LearnCard Integrations: We expanded LearnCard with key partnerships and integrations like Roblox, Sesame, Campus API, Filament, OpenAI, Open Credential Publisher, Credential Engine, Quorum1, Brighthive, SmartResume, Web3Auth, Keycloak, Banner Ethos, 1EdTech Open Badges (OBv3), and many others. We also continue to expand our developer documentation and champion open source. If you need help with development and/or deployment, please reach out.
• New IEEE LER Ecosystem Standard: After years of investment, we were excited by the publishing of the IEEE LER Ecosystem Standard (1484.2), a recommended practice intended to help system architects and engineers design and deploy systems that leverage shared standards and technologies to support ecosystem-scale issuing, holding, and presenting of verifiable credentials for education, skills-based hiring, and career.
• Open Source Administrative Dashboard: As a core, modular scaling component of LearnCard, we extended the development of an open source, enterprise-grade Administrative Dashboard for managing, issuing and batch editing LERs. Thank you to MIT’s Digital Credentials Consortium for their continued collaboration.‍
• Advancing Learner-Centric Analytics: We partnered with INFERable to provide predictive, learner-centric analytics based on causal inference within LearnCard. We prototyped the initial SkillsGraph for learners to see progress toward skills and competencies in real-time while connected to their LMS, a video game, or an external learning application. ‍
• LER Ecosystem Support: In partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce T3 Innovation Network, we supported the ongoing evolution and socialization of the LER Ecosystem Map and Toolkit, community resources helping to modernize and transform the talent marketplace nationwide.‍
• Advocacy for Open Standards: We continued our facilitation of the Open Skills Network (OSN) Community of Practice and actively participated as advisors and/or contributing members to the Learn and Work Ecosystem Library, W3C VC-Edu Taskforce, and IEEE LER Workgroup in order to reinforce our advocacy of open, credibly neutral software, standards, and protocols.  ‍
• Engaging in Global Forums: Lastly, we deepened our support and understanding of the global learning and employment ecosystem by supporting the World Economic Forum’s Reimagining Digital ID, and convening at SXSW, ASU+GSV, UN General Assembly, Global Scouts Congress, The Badge Summit, Transformative Impact Summit, ISTE, TED, Founders Forum, Web Summit, Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity, and more…

LOOKING AHEAD, WE'RE ENERGIZED AND INSPIRED BY THE BLUE SKY(WAY) AND NEW HORIZONS AHEAD OF US!

If you’ve read this far, it’s clear that your insights and collaborative spirit have been a cornerstone of our progress. As we look to the future, we are excited to continue this journey together, striving to create a world where everyone has the agency and opportunity to safely take flight in the direction they so choose. If our work has influenced or inspired you in any way, we encourage you to express your gratitude through action. Together, we can turn inspiration and audacious ideas into real impact.
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5 WAYS TO TAKE ACTION

1. SHARE THIS UPDATE WITH A COLLEAGUE!

2. Stories & Support: Do you have a passion for storytelling? We welcome editorials, proof points, and podcasts about our work and impact. If interested in offering support, please reach out or help us spread the word.‍

3. Strategic Partnerships: Do you know any change-makers or funders looking to invest in systemic, cohort-driven change at scale? Please make an introduction, organize a knowledge-sharing forum, or initiate a strategic planning session to identify areas where leading-edge empowerment technologies can create positive social impact.‍

4. Thought Leadership: Do you have an exciting idea for an article, whitepaper, or case study that can help to humanize our work and show real-world impact? Reach out and let us know how we can collaborate.

5. Input & Feedback: Do you have specific ideas about how LEF can further our mission and provide value to you or your community? Your input is invaluable, and we are here to ensure your success as much as our own.

As a new chapter unfolds, we extend our gratitude and heartfelt wishes to you and your loved ones. May 2025 bring you joy, peace, and moments to reflect on the incredible milestones we've achieved together.

Thank you for being an essential part of the LEF vision and family. We wish you a new year filled with love, laughter, and unexpected moments of serendipity and inspiration.

Warm regards,

— Taylor and the Learning Economy Team

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