“Etude pour les constructeurs” Fernand Leger
We follow the construction spend rate of the US education industry; using the US Census Bureau Construction Spending figures released the first day of every month. We encourage our colleagues in the education facilities industry to respond to Census Bureau-retained data gathering contractors in order to contribute to the accuracy of the report.
Innovation - Standardization - Commoditization run along a continuum. Today we unpack some of the ideas that hasten (and prohibit) leading practice discovery; how quickly goods and services become a "human right"; why all of this is relevant to education communities and why some believe that commoditization is a myth.
From the Wikipedia
In business literature, commoditization is defined as the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers. It is the movement of a market from differentiated to undifferentiated price competition and from monopolistic competition to perfect competition. Hence, the key effect of commoditization is that the pricing power of the manufacturer or brand owner is weakened: when products become more similar from a buyer's point of view, they will tend to buy the cheapest.
Related:
Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating
After months of hard work, the top five teams met at USPTO headquarters today for the final round of the 2025 National Patent Application Drafting Competition. 🏆 And the winners are ... ⬇️
🥇 First place — @UofMNLawSchool pic.twitter.com/uwNSJR0oBy
— USPTO (@uspto) April 4, 2025
From creating a race car safety device that protects drivers from injury to revolutionizing chemotherapy, Spartans have contributed to more than 3,300 inventions. #SpartansWill pic.twitter.com/dchCs0BFBx
— MSU (@michiganstateu) February 21, 2025