Gerry Hanley • May 26, 2022 • 0 comments

Five Pillars of the Innovation Marketplace

By Gerry Hanley, Chief Academic Officer

Introducing the Innovation Marketplace

The design and services of the Innovation Marketplace (IM) are based on decades of experiences among academic and EdTech leaders who together are building communication and decision-support processes that enable both commercial providers and higher ed institutions to efficiently and effectively evaluate and adopt innovations. At Partner in Publishing (PIP), the Innovation Marketplace leverages partnerships with different organizations committed to shared goals. Together, PIP, MERLOT, SkillsCommons, and the United States Distance Learning Association have combined their strengths to create the Five Pillars of the Innovation Marketplace.

Pillar 1: Trusted communications and partnerships with higher education leadership and influencers:

Together, USDLA and MERLOT-SkillsCommons represent large-scale, trusted communication channels that raise higher education’s awareness of products and services that support their goals. For more than 25 years, MERLOT has built a global community of educators and learners that share their needs and collaborate on solutions. Bottomline: The Innovation Marketplace provides an efficient and large-scale collaborative communication pipeline to higher education stakeholders.

Pillar 2: Trusted communication and partnerships with commercial providers:

Partner in Publishing has for many years been an “enabler” of commercial success by helping craft marketing, customer engagement, and customer support services. My 38 years in higher education, working with commercial providers, extensively complements PIP’s capabilities to become a large-scale, trusted communication channel to commercial providers. The PIP team can apply its expertise to help commercial providers craft their marketing message more effectively. Bottomline: The Innovation Marketplace provides an efficient and large-scale collaborative communication pipeline to commercial providers and their stakeholders.

Pillar 3: Higher Education’s Critical Needs Focus Innovation Marketplace Priorities:

MERLOT-SkillsCommons, USDLA, and PIP are using our networks with stakeholders to identify the critical needs of higher education and translate them into value propositions for commercial providers. Affordable Learning Solutions, Diversity-Equity-Inclusiveness, Lost Learning, Competency-Based Education, Effective Online Education, and more are examples of the strategic needs/themes that create the context for institutions procuring the commercial providers’ products and services. Bottomline: Innovations must serve a strategic purpose so keeping higher education’s strategic needs at the forefront of Innovation Marketplace projects is critical.

Pillar 4: Thought Leadership Guiding Strategic Actions for Innovations:

MERLOT-SkillsCommons, USDLA, and PIP networks bring exceptional thought leadership and expertise from all stakeholder groups to aid the higher education industry as it seeks to innovate 20th century education models. Innovations should create more effective and inclusive teaching and learning environments for more diverse learner populations to achieve more equitable educational outcomes. Bottomline: the cross-team thought leadership and expertise also aids commercial providers’ understanding and development of business models, implementation strategies, and support services that enables higher education to adopt, adapt, and ultimately experience the benefits of the innovations.

Pillar 5: Provide a Marketplace for Innovations to be Conveniently and Systemically Available for Evaluation and Adoption:

MERLOT-SkillsCommons, USDLA, and PIP will create virtual and on-site “marketplaces” that facilitate higher education exploring, evaluating, and executing agreements with commercial providers in a more convenient, timely, and cost-effective manner. The Innovation Marketplace will present options and opportunities to compare the variety of offerings from commercial providers aligned with strategic challenges facing higher education so higher education decision makers can make informed decisions. The Innovation Marketplace will provide a level of openness and transparency that will help innovations scale across higher education more efficiently and effectively.

Our Challenge:

Managing a marketplace of innovations that makes it easier for all the stakeholders to collaborate and improve higher education will be a challenge. Our capabilities will mature over time as the strengths of our partnerships produce effective and efficient change management and project management, resulting in beneficial outcomes for all.  I hope you will join us and benefit from our collective learning to innovate in ways that best suit YOU.

Visit the Innovation Marketplace page to learn more.

About the Author

Gerry Hanley, PhD serves as Chief Academic Officer at Partner in Publishing (PIP) and Executive Director of MERLOT and SkillsCommons. With nearly 40 years of experience in higher education and 20 years as Assistant Vice Chancellor & Senior Director of Academic Technology Services at the California State University Office of the Chancellor, Gerry collaborates with educators and EdTech companies to develop and implement meaningful learning technologies.