Wykształcenie i kwalifikacje pracowników jako determinanta zmian w poziomie innowacyjności gospodarek

The study objective was to research the impact of workers’ education and qualifications upon changes in the innovation level of economies.The professional literature often claims that knowledge translates into innovation. Higher levels of employees’ education generate more innovative ideas, which increases the general level of innovation.The spatial scope of analysis included the European Union countries during the 2004-2012 period. The paper consists of three parts. The first part explains the importance of human capital for the economy, and especially for its competitiveness and innovation. The second part presents a comparative analysis of the structure of employees in terms of the level of education and qualifications, in particular European Union states. The third part attempts to clarify the effect of the level of education of employees on the innovation of economy. The analysis has demonstrated that the level of innovation is determined by the level of both education and qualification of employees. From the point of view of the innovativeness of economy not only the post-level qualifications but also specialization is important. The qualification specialization is the type of necessary knowledge or skills of using specific devices and tools or materials or produced goods and services. The European Union countries considered to be the innovation leaders are characterized by a high proportion of highly qualified employees. Moreover, the percentage of specialists in employment is also very high. However, there is a group of countries where, despite the high proportion of specialists, innovation remains low. It seems it is due to the low „quality” employment specialists. From the point of view of innovation the participation of high-skilled workers in the total employment in the economy seems to be more important than the participation of professionals. This is due to the nature of today’s innovations that require the cooperation of employees from different disciplines and within multidisciplinary teams.