Excellence in Science Performance

Abstract

The rapidly growing demand for highly skilled workers has led to global competition for talent (OEC D, 2008). While basic competencies are generally considered important for the absorption of new technologies, high-level competencies are critical for the creation of new knowledge, technologies and innovation. For countries near the technology frontier, this implies that the share of highly educated workers in the labour force is an important determinant of economic growth and social development. There is also mounting evidence that individuals with high level skills generate relatively large amounts of knowledge creation and ways of using it, compared to other individuals, which in turn suggests that investing in excellence may benefit all (Minne et al., 2007).1 This happens, for example, because highly skilled individuals create innovations in various areas (for example, organisation, marketing, design) that benefit all or that boost technological progress at the frontier. Research has also shown that the effect of the skill level one standard deviation above the mean in the International Adult Literacy Study on economic growth is about six times larger than the effect of the skill level one standard deviation below the mean (Hanushek and Woessmann, 2007) .