Author: Oto Hudec
Knowledge is not capital if it is not in circulation
Today’s emphasis on skills at the expense of traditional knowledge stems from the transition from an industrial to a service economy, which has fundamentally changed the nature of work. Historically, in the industrial era, knowledge and craft expertise were defined linearly through years of formal education. Governments, influenced by human capital theory, invested massively in education under the assumption that a higher number of qualifications would automatically bring prosperity. This one-sided, supply-driven policy created a paradoxical problem: labor markets were flooded with an army of educated graduates whose knowledge often found no use in real jobs. This exposed a crack in human capital theory: the mere existence of knowledge does not guarantee its economic value. Education that remains a collection of facts without the possibility of application creates warehouses of knowledge without outputs—like a library no one visits.
Instead of the question, “How do we create more educated people?”, the key question became, “How do we ensure that existing knowledge and abilities are actually used?”. This approach shifts responsibility for the education system onto individuals, but also onto employers. We see the real value of knowledge today only when it leads to improvement, to innovations—in healthcare, industry, services, public administration, or environmental solutions. The innovative potential of young people therefore does not develop through passive acquisition of knowledge, but through experimentation, teamwork, project-based learning, and interaction with the real world. The concept of “skill” has thus expanded to include so-called soft skills. Traits such as a pleasant manner, empathy, communication abilities, or the capacity to resolve conflicts—once seen as inborn personality characteristics—are now regarded as key professional competencies. The principles of education are: less cramming, more searching; less passive listening, more experimenting; fewer closed classrooms, more live projects, challenges, and collaboration across worlds. Instead of asking, “What do you know?”, we ask, “What can you do with what you know?”
At the same time, encyclopedic knowledge is still highly valued in society, as seen in the popularity of quiz shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, where success is measured by the ability to quickly recall factual information—dates, names, capitals, or historical events. This form of knowledge may be entertaining and intellectually stimulating, but it does not necessarily translate into usefulness under today’s working conditions.
The final nail in the coffin of the old knowledge model has been globalization and the technological revolution, including the deployment of artificial intelligence. A computer can remember and process more facts than any human being, and mere possession of information is losing value. What remains uniquely human are higher-order skills: critical thinking, creativity, complex problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and the ability to collaborate effectively.
Systems, ecosystems, and innovations
We sense that education should be more closely connected to life and the economy. Everyone needs to change—schools must open their doors, companies must invest in collaboration, governments must create enabling conditions, and young people must have the courage to try, fail, and learn in the real world. This is exactly how future skills develop—team collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, and adaptability—which are more important in the 21st century than encyclopedic knowledge. This shift is also an admission that the old model, in which education guaranteed success, simply no longer holds.
It is not enough to reform teaching alone. We must systemically connect education with innovation, entrepreneurship, and regional development. Innovations arise at interfaces—between technology and design, between social sciences and data analytics, between local knowledge and global trends. They are born in environments that connect talent, infrastructure, experimentation, research, and the courage to change established practices. Such an environment is called a regional innovation ecosystem. It is a living organism in which schools, universities, companies, start-ups, the public sector, cultural institutions, and communities cooperate. Each actor has a role—schools educate people with problem-solving abilities, companies bring real challenges and needs, research offers new insights, and local governments create a favorable environment.
No single school or university can prepare graduates for everything that awaits them. That is why long-term, systematic cooperation is needed—building regional ecosystems of skills and opportunities for specialization, so that young people can find and develop localized skills in different places, shaping their personal growth and nurturing their talent. A skills ecosystem means that individual places and actors (school, company, research, region, communities) co-create an environment for learning.
From the learner’s perspective, a skills ecosystem is a diverse and interconnected pathway along which they can move and deliberately build their skillset—from school through internships, projects, courses, micro-credentials, and mentoring, all the way to volunteering, international mobility, or work experience. That is why Centers of Excellence in Vocational Education (CoVE – Center of Excellence in Vocational Education) are also being established in the Košice region, functioning as nodes in this ecosystem. At the same time, they help anchor education—meaning skills are not detached from the region, but grow out of its specific challenges, potential, and talents, thereby contributing to local development and competitiveness.
Competitiveness, development, and the innovation strategy in the Košice region
Around the world, there is a race for the most highly qualified workforce. The result is diploma inflation and rising costs that people increasingly bear themselves for their professional development. Skills thus become, paradoxically, not only an important tool for growth but also a source of inequality and disappointment. Skills do not grow on their own; they need a suitable environment. Many regions lag not because of a lack of talent, but because of missing opportunities to develop that talent locally. This creates deep regional inequality: while some regions successfully connect schools, firms, and research, in others young people leave in search of better conditions. We therefore need skills tied to people to stay in the region, to circulate, and to be transformed into innovations, solutions, and new opportunities. For that, we need a strategy. A regional innovation strategy.
The Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) is not merely a set of priorities, but above all a strategic tool that serves as a filter and coordinator of public decisions. Its goal is to focus regional resources, capacities, and efforts on areas with the highest innovation potential and the greatest ability to create added value. In the Košice Self-Governing Region, such priority domains include digital transformation, green technologies, creative and cultural industries, healthcare innovations, and advanced materials.
Focusing the implementation of RIS3 only on technical skills is a recipe for failure. Without parallel development of soft skills, no real transformative effects will occur in the region. Only soft skills bring the ability to collaborate in cross-sector teams, facilitate change, build trust, lead, and connect actors from education, research, business, and public administration. They are absolutely decisive in whether we can coordinate our efforts, understand one another, set shared goals, and create a functional regional ecosystem capable of responding to complex challenges and translating potential into concrete innovations and opportunities.
Building regional skills ecosystems—which include formal and non-formal learning, mentoring, micro-certificates, internships, or incubation programs—makes sense only if it is grounded in a shared vision and strategic direction. Linking RIS3 with systematic development of soft skills is therefore not just a customary add-on to technical measures. It is a necessary condition for strategic priorities not to remain on paper, but to be brought to life through well-coordinated cooperation among regional actors.
The project is supported by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund.
