Higher education is not leading technology but rather trying to catch up

I attended a meeting last week that revolved around technology and the use of new technology, like Social Media, within Higher Education. After listening to what LiU is doing and what others are doing, the members of the meeting realized that we need to face the fact that Higher Education is not leading technology but rather trying to catch up with it. And that this fact is likely not something new, but for some our leading position is deeply rooted in our self-image.

Higher Education has set the pace and the direction for a long time. Simply look at the internet, the world wide web and email. These days we do wondrous things at our higher education institutions, like massive parallel computing, but this is technology not being transferred to the general public (not yet anyhow). Naturally there is a lot of work done around social media, app development, the social impact of new technology and much more. But where are the new revolutionizing ideas?

Must Higher Education realize that we do not drive change any longer but rather consume change done by others?