[8] Education, Training and Skills in the Information Society - the Regional
[8] Dimension

A main stream of economic development today has moved towards the role of education and skills - human capital models of development. The Information Society places new and ever-changing requirements on skills and training with life-long learning principles at the core to creating and maintaining the skills base of a region. To be competitive now entails an element of adaptability - the workforce must be able to learn, relearn and de-learn.

This adaptability is essential to survive in the fast paced environment associated with high education sectors, defined as sectors with more than 40% of workers having tertiary education. The high education sectors also have the fastest pace of employment generation and a growing share of total employment in advanced countries in comparison to the least advanced countries - 34.4% and 18.7% respectively; the EU average is 24.9% (Employment in Europe, 2000). The highest educated sectors, with some variation, often include: research and development, education, computers, high-tech manufacturing, business services, health and social services and membership organisations (ibid).

Research on local human capital has demonstrated a strong connection between growth and the initial skills in an area -- this connection is also getting stronger over time (See Glaeser, 1994; Simon and Nardinelli 1996 & 1998). Two interpretations of this connection relate to: first, the geographical concentration of skills may increase new ideas and secondly, human capital spillovers result in knowledge diffusion to the benefit of the region (Glaeser, 2000). The application of skills (knowledge), according to industrial structure, illustrates the potential for innovation.

Some key indicators used to capture the educational attainment and skills in a region - a region's human capital - include: the adaptability of the workforce, share of workers employed in sectors requiring the highest education levels, completion of tertiary education, participation in continuing education and training among the adult population, labour force participation by level of educational attainment, earnings and educational attainment, and patents.