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Sponge brings human-first innovation to Learning Technologies 2026.

Bristol, UK27 Apr 2026Learning NewsSponge

Sponge offers a sharper take on AI adoption, behaviour change, and AI transformation to the event this year.

Bristol, 28th April  -  This year, much like the last few, Learning Technologies will be awash with organisations talking about their latest "AI innovation." But how many of those innovations have truly moved the needle for people, for behaviour, or for the business?

At LT26, Sponge is showing what people enablement innovation really looks like in 2026: work grounded in a clear-eyed understanding that AI adoption is a human challenge, not a technology one. 

93% of executives now cite human issues, culture, change fatigue, how work gets done, as the biggest barrier to AI adoption. Faced with this challenge, the question L&D leaders are uniquely placed to answer is not "which tools?" but "how do people build genuine fluency, in the flow of their work, when they're already numbed by change?" 

That's the question Sponge has been solving with clients and it's the question the Sponge team want to guide you through at LT26.

The missing investment isn't in technology.

James Gordon, Learning Experience Consultant at Sponge, will address this challenge directly in his speaker session:

AI adoption is stalling. Now what?
Theatre 6 | 30th April | 10:15–10:45

Gordon will argue that the missing investment isn't in technology but in people, and that L&D teams need to innovate in how they approach AI enablement, moving beyond content delivery toward frameworks that build fluency, create shared language, and give managers the autonomy to experiment. 

Also at LT26:

Sponge will also host a second speaker session exploring the broader people enablement landscape:

Mobilising Generation Numb.
Theatre 1 | 29th April | 15:30–16:00

Hosted by Josh Cardoz, Chief Creative and Learning Officer, Sponge, this session examines a workforce-wide emotional shutdown driven by chronic uncertainty and change fatigue, and introduces a practical framework for designing enablement that cuts through.

[Sources: Harvard Business Review, How Executives Are Thinking About AI in 2026, 2026] 

At the stand: 

Visitors to stand C05 can get hands-on with Sponge's AI enablement demos, talk through their own AI adoption challenges with the consultancy team, and explore examples of recent client work spanning AI fluency, responsible AI adoption, sales enablement, culture and behaviour change, and L&D strategy alignment. 

Learn more about Sponge's presence at the event here.