Study of skills for innovation in the large-scale survey

The identification and measurement of skills necessary to allow the development of a knowledge based economy and a faster pace of innovation, became a serious challenge to a sociologist. Until recently, research on the innovative skills and innovative behavior simulation was based on the analysis of respondent attitudes and psychological testing. Such an approach, however, is in contradiction with the task to measure competencies required by labour market and studies of diferent types of activity during education and training. Instead, the research setting requires a methodology enables large-scale surveys for measuring the levels of skills by the acquisition of relevant skills. We suggest a methodology to study skills for innovation, designed to conduct survey on formalized questionnaire. The model of the study includes six groups of skills (technological competences, informational skills, managerial skills, marketing skills, entrepreneurship, communication skills) and personal qualities (creativity, leadership, energy, self-confidence, the risk propensity, tolerance). At the same time we revealed the factual participation and the role of respondents in different stages of the life cycle of innovation: from the generation of new ideas to the innovation implemented. Based on the survey (involving 2290 respondents, employed, with vocational or higher education, participating in a panel survey RLMS) we constructed profiles according to the responsibility level, and the role in the innovation process and set of skills.