According to the World Economic Forum 70% of people will have to reskill and upskill to maintain or develop their employability in future years. In my opinion ‘employability’ is the translation of the concept of innovation on an individual level, that will lead to innovation with a capital I, on an organisational or societal level. One of the most important skills to develop is creativity. The good news is we are all creative, as in creative problem solvers, but we need to learn to learn again, so we become the Lifelong learners innovation needs.
If we want the next generations to thrive in a sustainable world, learning will have to be experiential as from elementary school, through secondary school to culminate in our professional experiences after (or not) an academic degree. It is only by inserting creativity in our daily lives that we will become champions at it, like athletes who train every day. Creative ideas appear on the moments we loosen up, like for example when traveling. Well, Brussels, as the second most intercultural city in the world, has an absolute asset on this aspect: we don’t need to travel to be exposed to all kinds of different cultural points of view, we can experience them daily through very simple food, beverage and personal experiences. In a way Brussels is a creativity laboratory as it is, making us wonder, thanks to the many different cultures that let the city be itself.
I have always loved the international aspect of the city. This mix of people, also brings a lot of different competencies, so the next challenge in innovation will be to be as inclusive as possible for the sake of creativity and innovation. It is only by integrating all these competencies that we will get to more and better innovations. So Brussels, could well become the next place to be if all actors in learning succeed in making it something enjoyable. Learning shouldn’t be a burden, it should be a reward, something we look forward to, like looking forward to potential innovation.
Carine Chisu is a curious, passionate learner. After graduating from Romance languages (MA), a postgraduate degree in Tourism management and another one in IT resources management, she pursued an MBA to graduate from an Msc in Creativity & Change leadership. She is an entrepreneur-trainer since 2008 and provides sustainability and creativity focussed train-the-trainer programs.
