Skills for innovation: a quick overview

Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin

OECDCentre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI)

Past work covered in horizontal documents

• Contribution of higher education to quality human resources, research and innovation

– Broadened access, graduation, quality– Funding of tertiary education (teaching and research)– Balance between modes of funding (competitive vs. block

grants)– Links with industry– Reflection on the academic profession

• Importance of knowledge flows

– Mobility of staff (research careers, public-private, non-compete clauses)

– Migration (highly skilled and low skilled, short and long)– Cross-border higher education (teaching and research)– Management of diasporas– Facilitation of communities of practice

THE DIVERSITY OF QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

What kinds of qualifications are used by innovative companies?

Skills for innovation(see Philip Toner’s paper)

• Lack of skills hinders innovation

• Skills for innovation are diverse because of diversity of innovation at the sectoral level:– Science and engineering… but not only– General tertiary education… but also VET

• Because of innovation, we don’t know what the skill demand will be in the future: need for lifelong learning and transferable skills

SKILL-BIASED TECHNICAL CHANGE

How has innovation changed the demand for skills?

How the demand for skills has changedEconomy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task input (US)

Source: Levy and Murnane

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Canada: increase in creativity-oriented jobs (1901-2006)

Employment structure in Europe in 1993 (hours worked)

Source: Goos, Manning and Salomons (based on EWCS data)

Employment structure in Europe in 2006 (hours worked)

Source: Goos, Manning and Salomons (based on EWCS data)

Change in employment structure in Europe: 1993-2006 (% points)

Source: Goos, Manning and Salomons (based on EWCS data)

Intermediate conclusions

• Need for more tertiary graduates (general, vocational, training)… until there are signs of « over-education » (declining returns)

• Problem of drop-outs before high school:– Little chances to get a low-skill job– Little chances to have access to adult

education and training

LEARNING ORGANISATIONS

How do and should companies use the skills at their disposal to foster innovation?