Diversities of Innovation

This chapter sets out to elucidate the critical role of highly skilled labour as a basis for the innovation and competitiveness of islands of innovation in high technology industries using the example of the civil aerospace industry. It does so by: briefly describing the structure of the industry’s supply chain and the firm-level competences required at different tiers of the supply chain; analysing the different types of highly skilled labour required by the industry; explaining the impacts of on-going market and technological changes on the structure of the supply chain; and, analysing in depth the varying impacts of these structural changes on the skills and labour supply needs of well established, and more recent entrants into the aerospace supply chain. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion: summarizing the critical impact of labour supply issues upon the aerospace supply chain; distinguishing the different challenges posed for both established firms and regions, and for new entrant firms and regions; and identifying two key enablers necessary to address these challenges effectively.