Towards innovative societies

Educational institutions have a special role in disseminating knowledge. In the developed countries, they have the moral duty to contribute to the progress of developing communities. It is a challenge for the academic institutions to be able not only to produce collective knowledge, but also to create a collective conscience about the necessity of building innovative societies capable of stimulating intergenerational solidarity.

Highly visible gap

Innovation is by definition a collaborative process and the G8 can become a strong vehicle through which special attention is focused on urgent issues such as how to combine knowledge and power in the interest of effective and acceptable solutions for all peoples.

Unfortunately, there is a highly visible gap between political rhetoric and providing adequate funding for knowledge-based societies. The current budgetary trends are unsustainable and there is a need for a new vision.

Purposeful innovation, if it is sufficiently financed, can lead to tangible benefits. It will play a vital role, from meeting the simple day-to-day living needs to addressing advanced strategies in a variety of fields.

The knowledge capacity of nations is expected to become as valuable as water, oil and other natural resources. Knowledge empowerment can enhance the prosperity of nations.

Sensitive to the US's accelerated technical progress and Asia's high dynamism, the European Union (EU) with its 27 members has proclaimed innovation as a policy priority. Under the project titled “Creating an Innovative Europe”, simultaneous actions are recommended in four fundamental directions: creation of a market for innovative products and services; providing sufficient resources for research, development and innovation; improving the structural mobility of Europe; and building positive attitudes and a culture favourable towards entrepreneurship and risk taking.

In the field of education, the Erasmus program, the Bologna process and the European Qualifications Framework are quite familiar to those that follow such developments. The assistance given by the EU to its East European members to renovate their educational systems is a good example for further action outside the EU legal framework. In this respect, 45 states, acting in an innovative way, intend to establish, by 2010, a European Higher Education Area, reaching from Reykjavik to Vladivostok.

A culture that values and invests in robust innovation leads to real transformations. From this perspective, useful views can be found in the proceedings and documentation of a recent Thai-Australian Research Symposium held in Bangkok.

In a multicultural state like Australia with nine Nobel Prize Laureates and people originating from over 200 countries, academic representatives believe that science and innovation are strategic priorities for them. Australian universities form part of a broader research and innovation community referred to as the national innovation system. About 86 per cent of their research and development activities are funded by the government.

By their specific learning and studying style, Australian universities have the reputation of encouraging innovative, creative, and independent thinking. In their pragmatic view, innovation is about turning Australian ideas into more jobs and higher salaries. It is one of the keys to prosperity and human security in the present vulnerable world. “Innovate or perish!” is not a rhetorical slogan.

Realistic vision

A realistic vision of an innovative society was also brought out at the Bangkok International Workshop on University Governance in June this year. It dealt with global trends in higher education, including the performance of universities and Thai practices in the field. Its deliberations led to helpful conclusions about the complex advance towards innovative societies. University associations are encouraged to pay more attention to promoting innovation.

At governmental levels, the G8 will decide whether to carry on with the issue through its summit in Japan in 2008.