So it will be in higher education; this tale of two cities won’t last much longer. Whereas Silicon Valley edtech companies have garnered headlines and plaudits, for our money the most innovative HE technology is being developed inside the public companies. Consider the fact that Apollo Group has an annual technology R&D budget estimated to be in excess of $100M. Or that Capella now owns SOPHIA, a low-cost provider of online self-paced general education courses and was the first institution to receive HLC’s approval to launch direct assessment (competency-based) programs.