At an event which attracted some 35 of the UK’s top suppliers of online-delivered learning content, held at in June in the Australian High Commission in The Strand, London, Graeme Coomber, CEO of EDTRIN Group Ltd (NSX: ETG) explained his organisation’s aim of managing a lifetime of learning for large numbers of the world’s population – beginning with those living in the Asia-Pacific, Indian sub-Continent and MENA regions.

According to Graeme, the world education and training market amounts to some $7tr. He pointed out that this is larger than the global markets for media ($1.4tr), armaments ($1.75tr) and software ($2.4tr) combined. He added: “EDTRIN wants to be a disruptive influence in the global education and training market because, at present, the world’s education and training infrastructure is not delivering what people need.

“EDTRIN believes that personal education is key to everyone’s success,” Graeme continued. “This means engaging with a young person, providing education and training materials to them, and managing the relevant education they need for the rest of their career.”

Graeme Coomber, global CEO of EDTRIN.

Graeme explained that EDTRIN – which is due to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the coming months – is looking to partner with learning content providers in order to distribute their products, especially to the Asia-Pacific region initially.

It is also looking to work with educational institutions and professional associations which are considering new business models. The third aspect of EDTRIN’s current search is for strategic investment partnerships.

Having found relevant learning content – some 90 per cent of which is in English – it is important to translate and ‘culturise’ it appropriately before it is delivered, said Graeme. He outlined three pilot studies currently being carried out over the next six months, which involve EDTRIN doing this in Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

Other speakers at the EDTRIN event were Chris Butt, the CEO of Cognisess – one of EDTRIN’s UK-based partners – which works in the area of recruitment, ensuring that organisations employ the right people in the right jobs, and the internationally renowned, California-based learning management system (LMS) analyst Craig Weiss. In addition to Craig explaining his view of LMS market trends, he also announced the formal launch of a new corporate online learning think tank – The Company of Thought – comprising a number of independent analysts and commentators drawn from around the world.

Hosted by Geoffrey Conaghan, The Agent-General for Victoria, Australia, the event was intended to encourage the UK’s top e-learning content producers to become suppliers to EDTRIN. Mr Conaghan explained that, since EDTRIN’s launch – also at Australia House – last July, the company had floated on the Australian Stock Exchange, opened offices in Singapore and acquired a number of Australia-based companies.

While EDTRIN’s operational headquarters are located in Singapore, it has developmental offices in Melbourne Australia. This places EDTRIN in the educational epicenter of the region, giving it premium entry to target markets in the Asia Pacific, China, Indian Sub-Continent, and Middle East and North African regions.