In 1990, John Vlaar and Koen Berends were still at university. When educators complained about the declining quality of automotive technology students and trainees, these two young entrepreneurs saw it differently.

They realized that the problem lay not with the quality of student, but with outdated teaching methods and materials. John and Koen began looking at technical education in a totally new way. Why, they wondered, would we teach hands-on learners the same way we teach students of history or literature? Technical students don’t want to read textbooks or sit around watching videos. They learn by doing.

Electude was born.

The company quickly grew into one of the Netherlands’ leading automotive training institutes. Eventually, Electude turned away from training and shifted their focus entirely to developing e-learning materials, strengthened by a rapid and ongoing culture of change. The firsts kept coming.

Today, Electude produces the world’s leading automotive e-learning solutions. Their platform uses gaming technology to teach technical students in the ways they learn best, while providing instructors with unique, time-saving tools and detailed group and individual analytics. Electude solutions are available in dozens of languages and over 70 countries. The company has offices worldwide, with international headquarters in the Netherlands.

Technical education will never be the same again. And it all started with two students and a workshop.