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Towards innovative societies

By Ioan Voicu - posted Wednesday, 22 August 2007


Innovation has become one of the most frequently quoted catch words in global dialogue. It deals with new modalities of converting existing knowledge into ideas that can change the world. The younger generation is in the avant-garde of this process.

In his message for International Youth Day celebrated recently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the annual event was an opportunity to push for the participation of the world's 1.2 billion young people in all areas of society, as they can bring fresh, innovative thinking to longstanding development concerns.

The G8 Group of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, Canada and Russia is also a strong advocate of innovation. At its summit in June this year, the grouping reasserted that innovation is one of the crucial drivers of economic growth.

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In 2006, the G8 ministers of education affirmed their commitment to shape innovative societies through the provision of solid education and training, and investment in research and skill development.

These ideas were further considered in depth in Trieste, Italy, in May this year, by the G8-Unesco World Forum under the title “Education, Research and Innovation: New Partnership for Sustainable Development”.

By advancing the objective of innovative societies, the G8 and Unesco are expected to help bridge the digital, scientific and development divide between rich and poor countries.

The role of universities is crucial as they are at the very heart of the knowledge society. The push towards continuous innovation requires that education and research be closely connected with the knowledge transfer process.

The basic assumption is that an innovative global society can be achieved by developing and integrating national education and research, and by investing fully in human resource development.

Existing educational systems in many countries are still disconnected from research and innovation. Many obstacles reduce normal educational exchanges at the global level.

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Through their joint efforts, the G8 and Unesco have the potential to exert a significant leadership role in this matter. The vital objective is to generate abundant knowledge to solve critical human needs. Achieving this goal demands meaningful reforms.

There is a need for high quality basic education, literacy and gender equality across the globe, especially among the world's poorest nations. It is necessary to build and sustain human and institutional capacity for science, technology and innovation, especially among the world's most scientifically and technologically impoverished nations.

There is a need to protect and promote indigenous knowledge, most notably as invaluable contributions to advancing public health, biodiversity and sustainable development. Knowledge must be treated as a public asset and made accessible to all because it is a powerful tool for eradicating poverty, misunderstanding and suspicion.

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.

In a larger context, the May 2007 Asia Europe Meeting (Asem), which brought 43 nations together in Hamburg , noted that the upcoming and first-ever Asem Ministerial Meeting on Education and Qualification, co-sponsored by China will be held in Germany in 2008.

Asem underlined the pivotal role education and training for qualified human resources play in economic and social development. It also welcomed Vietnam's offer to host the second Asem Ministerial Meeting on Education in Hanoi in 2009.

Meanwhile, 62 members and associate members of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) are expected to consider in 2008 the theme of energy security and sustainable development, with the specific inclusion of elements of innovation and competitiveness.

All these meetings will concentrate on the cardinal requirements of building innovative societies as a consensus priority to be promoted on all continents.

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First published in the Bangkok Post on August 12, 2007.



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About the Author

Dr Ioan Voicu is a Visiting Professor at Assumption University in Bangkok

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