I listened to a very interesting interview with Peter Nowak on innovation in technology and learning. Interestingly, Nowak argues that most innovations that we see today in education and learning are related to high competition in non educational markets, namely the food market, the pornography market, and the military complex. 

His argument is that these volatile markets act as innovators and early adopters that have created and shaped technologies through massive investments. The drivers for this innovation is partly related to performance needs and to the needs of market outreach. Despite negative effects that are related to all of these industries, the high competition and market constraints seem to force them towards seeking technological innovation in order to gain any advantage over their competitors. Then slowly these technologies diffuse towards the mainstream.

You can listen to the interview at New Security Learning.