2010 marks a turning point in European policies, with the assessment of the impact of the Lisbon Strategy (2000) and the indication of a new way forward. From previous EU documents, from the outcomes of the Access to Culture Platform and of the Open Method of Coordination, but especially from the Commission Working Document “Consultation on the Future EU 2020 Strategy” it emerges that the achievement of a genuine European Knowledge Area will depend on social cohesion, innovation, creativity, the rethinking of education systems, an increased access to cultural life, the circulation of people, and the flexibility of labour markets supported by a more accessible and effective lifelong learning infrastructure.LEM – The Learning Museum is a Europe wide network which aims to establish a permanent space for museums and adult educators to act in a learning society and in a knowledge based Europe.To keep up with change, however, museums are not only expected to be learning places, but learning organisations themselves: learning from the communities, from the public, from their stakeholders, and also from other agencies, with whom they have to build alliances to accomplish the ambitious objectives set by policies at national and European level and meet the challenges of the future decades. LEM aims to create a permanent network of museums and cultural heritage organisations, to insure that they can play an active role with regard to lifelong learning and to raise awareness among decision makers at national and European level.It will do so through a dedicated and dynamic website, international conferences and meetings, the publication and dissemination of thematic reports, the piloting of a mobility scheme for museum educators within the partner countries to support peer learning and the exchange of knowledge at European level.Through its partners and associates, LEM expects to reach the whole museum and heritage community and a large part of the adult education sector.