OECD Education Working Papers

ISSN :
1993-9019 (en ligne)
DOI :
10.1787/19939019
Cacher / Voir l'abstract
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies drawing on the work of the OECD Directorate for Education. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language (English or French) with a short summary available in the other.
 

Business-Driven Innovation: Is it Making a Difference in Education?

An Analysis of Educational Patents You or your institution have access to this content

Auteur(s):
Dominique Foray1, Julio Raffo
Author Affiliations
  • 1: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Suisse

Date de publication
03 oct 2012
Bibliographic information
N°:
84
Pages
21
DOI
10.1787/5k91dl7pc835-en

Cacher / Voir l'abstract

This paper analyses business-driven innovation in education by looking at education-related patents. It first draws a picture of the challenges for innovation in the formal education sector, which suffers from a poor knowledge ecology: science is hardly linked to core teaching and administrative practices. It then turns to a common indicator of innovation: patents. In the case of education, patents typically cover educational tools. An analysis of education-related patents over the past 20 years shows a clear rise in the production of highly innovative educational technologies by businesses, typically building on advances in information and communication technology. While this increase in educational innovations may present new opportunities for the formal education sector, the emerging tool industry currently targets the nonformal education rather than the formal education system. We shortly discuss why business entrepreneurs may be less interested in the market of formal education.