Research and innovation talent development

Advanced qualifications across all fields help build the high-level knowledge and skills needed to address complex challenges and societal needs. Doctoral education is not the only route into R&D careers, but it plays a central role in talent development for R&I careers, since it explicitly prepares and accredits people to conduct and manage research. Doctoral credentials are commonly required for academic posts and are increasingly valued in industry, government, and non-profit research roles. Master's-level qualifications also support the development of the advanced workforce that forms the talent base for frontier research and innovation.

Indicators of entry to, enrolment in, and graduation from doctoral programmes help reveal how attractive people find research careers relative to other educational and career options. The distribution of graduates across fields of study matters just as much, since R&I capacity depends not only on the volume of graduates but on their specialisation, with STEM disciplines being especially important for R&I systems. These indicators help governments plan the future R&I workforce and manage public investment in advanced education and training.

Indicators on holders of advanced degrees at master's and doctoral levels, complement data on the flow of new graduates by capturing the resulting stocks: the people who have already qualified and remain part of a country's skill base. While graduate indicators show how many highly qualified people enter the labour market each year, stock indicators show how highly qualified talent within countries has built up over time, and how that compares internationally. Together, these two groups of indicators offer a richer view of whether a country is not only producing advanced talent but holding on to it, which is an important signal of its capacity to sustain research and innovation over the long term.

The turnover of this workforce is as important as its size, which is why the age profile of the advanced-degree population is worth examining closely. It indicates how much of a country's qualified talent is approaching retirement and will need to be replaced, and how steadily new entrants are coming through to renew it. These patterns vary considerably. Some countries are still building their advanced-qualification base for the first time and show a young, expanding profile; others, shaped by different demographics, are renewing at a slower pace; and some face an ageing workforce that will require significant renewal in the years ahead. Tracking these differences helps show where future shortages may emerge and where sustained investment in advanced education will be most needed.