Policies

Equip people with skills for innovation

Human capital is the essence of innovation. Empowering people to innovate relies on broad and relevant education as well as on the development of wide-ranging skills that complement formal education. Innovation covers a wide range of activities, from invention and breakthroughs, to implementation and minor improvements. Policy makers should, thus, ensure that education and training systems are adaptable, and can accommodate the changing nature of innovation and the demands of the future.

Curricula and pedagogies need to be adapted to equip students with the capacity to learn and apply new skills throughout their lives and take full advantage of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). Empowering people to innovate also includes enabling consumers to be active participants in the innovation process and fostering an entrepreneurial culture by instilling the skills and attitudes for creative enterprise. Additionally, ensuring that schools provide solid educational foundations to all children is essential: a considerable share of children still do not complete upper secondary education or leave schools with poor literacy and numeracy skills; improving educational outcomes is still a challenge in many countries. Vocational education and training can also better connect to the world of work. This requires a good balance between occupationally-specific skills that meet employers’ needs and generic transferable skills that equip graduates for lifelong learning and mobility.