Innovation in Education

Anyone who has been reading my blog for quiet a while now would know that I am a LifeLongLearner. I  have deep interest in Learning, Education . Choices I have made at various stages of my Career are testimony to that. Attending Edgex , meeting Educators and having conversations on the topic of Education was one of the highlight this year. I came across an interesting  article recently  "Innovation is the key to bettereducation ( Source  www.brookings.edu  ) . It is surprising and astonishing to note R&D spending by sectors. Overall US spends about 3% of its total expenditures on R&D.  While Pharmaceutical companies Top the chart with  figures as high as 23% ( not surprised )  however Education R&D spending is only 0.2% (!!!) .  Does it mean that in US, education sector by far has remained immune or impervious to Innovation ? What could be the reasons that has Education sector attracted least R&D as compared to other sectors till date ?  Is the political clout of US Universities comparatively less compared to Pharma companies to attract R&D budget from US Govt ? Is Education sector ready to be disrupted through  Innovation / Emerging Technologies ? Is that the reason why Coursera offering MOOCs is a huge success and instant hit ?  Probably, Economics alone won’t be able to solve the problems in society especially in matters of Public Policy. Society needs more Behavioral Scientists. Society needs more Behavioral Economists. Do we have enough platforms where behavioral economists are asked to join the conversation on Innovation in Education and share their voice ? My introduction to the field of Behavioral Economics has been through Prof Dan Ariely .  It would be interesting to read his further thoughts on challenges Education sector faces and his take on what  would prototype of the solutions for Education sector might look like.  

P.S. - I "Hope" for a world where both Education & Healthcare is free to 7.147 billion people on Earth :-)