Abstract
An important role in economic development and competitiveness is played by human capital, that is believed to lead to the growth of innovation. The innovative activities of companies, with a well-educated workforce as an essential component, are a necessary condition for any economy to achieve a competitive advantage in the international arena. The study objective was to investigate the relationship between the type of education (formal or non-formal) of individuals aged 25-64 and the level of innovation in the European Union member countries. The study uses data provided by Eurostat from three international surveys: The Labor Force Survey (LFS), Adult Education Survey (AES) and Community Innovation Surveys (CIS). The econometric analysis was carried out using tobit regression models. The study shows that innovation levels of EU countries, as measured by the synthetic SII index strongly depend on 1) the share of people with tertiary education undertaking additional formal or non-formal education, 2) the share of employees undertaking additional formal education, and 3) the share of persons undertaking additional formal or non-formal education. Among the variables studied, the smallest impact on the innovativeness of economies was that of the share of persons undertaking additional formal education. The results indicate a significant and positive role of additional education in increasing the level of innovation and competitiveness in the EU economies.
Highlights
As a result of the endless transformations occurring in advanced economies, macroeconomic focus has broadened towards the intangible factors of production
Our study has shown that innovation levels of EU member countries as measured by the synthetic SII index strongly depend on: 1) the share (% of 25-64 y/o) of people with tertiary education undertaking additional formal or non-formal education (X4), 2) the share of employees undertaking additional formal education (X5), and 3) the share of persons undertaking additional formal or non-formal education (X1)
The study has confirmed the impact of the share of people with tertiary education in the general population on innovation levels (D1), a finding which has already been recognized in the subject literature
Summary
As a result of the endless transformations occurring in advanced economies, macroeconomic focus has broadened towards the intangible factors of production. An important role in the long-term growth of innovation is played by human capital, which is broadly defined as human resources, the innovation level of economy, the ability to acquire knowledge capital from abroad, and the exchange of knowledge among companies (Ferraris et al, 2019). This premises represent the basis for the widely acknowledged view that human resources are a key source of competitive advantage (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014)
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