As I go about scoping some new research on big data, open data and some of the opportunities and challenges for innovation, I've been wondering if there's an equivalent to the Uncanny Valley of robotics that governs how comfortable we feel with the data that we share.
In one sense, you would be hard pushed to find someone who argued for less rigour in education - who doesn't want students to learn as much, and as deeply, as possible. The crux comes when people start defining the learning processes and the content that constitute 'rigour'.
Eighteen months ago I was asked to give a talk on the outlook for the coalition at the Carlton Club, one of the high temples of British Conservatism. I came across my notes this week, which provided a reminder of just how quickly political moods can change.
Louis Coffait at the Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning has put together a good blog post about using open data to improve education.
I spent a few days last week in Canada, working with some of our partner organisations in technology, business and social innovation.
The Wilson Report on University Collaboration gets down to the specifics: better contacts between universities and business that could help turn ideas into practical benefits. But strong leadership is needed to bring them about.
Many claim to be seeking "what works" when looking for the solutions that will meet certain social goals. This quest for evidence-based policies, programmes and practice has gained a renewed momentum, with the Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Haywood's calls for a "NICE for social policy" and the forthcoming creation of an Early Intervention Foundation. Yet we don't want "what works". What works is bad for innovation, and by extension, bad for service users.
The following is an extract from the blog posted on The Guardian on 2 May 2012.
At the Centre for Challenge Prizes launch last week we were lucky enough to bring together some brilliant individuals and organisations from a range of sectors. As well as great speeches from Jason Crusan, Director of the new Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation at NASA and David Willetts, Minister of State for Universities and Science, we also had some great discussions thanks to the wealth of expertise, interest and ideas in the room.
Yesterday we launched the new Centre for Challenge Prizes, with the Minister David Willetts, Jason Crusan from NASA and Cristin Dorgelo from the White House. This is an exciting and ambitious initiative which we hope will inject some creative energy into problem solving.
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