The McKinsey & Co. Global Institute has released an interesting report titled "Open Data: Unlocking Innovation and Performance" which covers the potential of opening up data (particularly government data) across a number of sectors, including education. Pointers to the executive summary and the full report, plus some related audio materials, can be found at

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/open_data_unlocking_innovation_and_performance_with_liquid_information

Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI