Indian innovation capital flowing to edu

Times of India, drawing on “Private Equity Pulse-Education,” reports that 80% of private equity and venture capital firms see education as recession proof and plan investments in the next 6-8 months.  Given more room for innovation in India, its likely that we’ll see new learning innovations taken to scale and then imported to the US—all part of the shift away from the Bay Area as the innovation capital of the world. 

VentureI ntelligence asks

Will the boom in for-profit education ventures benefit only the economically better off sections? In her article, Reema Shetty of Kaizen Education Fund, assures us that there is no conflict between delivering high quality inclusive education and providing high returns to investors.

The link between access to quality, scalable business models, and market-rate returns to investors is becoming well developed in emerging economies.  Will America participate?  Maybe not.  For example, the $5 billion in incentive and innovation funding from the US Department of Education will not engage the venture and private equity community—the folks that could add leverage, insight, and real innovation.