Vocational training, SMEs and innovation in Navarre

Recent studies within the innovation systems perspective have not paid enough attention to the role that Vocational Training (VT) centres and technical workers can play in innovation processes. In this paper we review the recent international literature on the issue and present an exploratory case study carried out in the Northern Spanish region of Navarre, which has a high level of both industrial activity and VT education. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative evidence from industrial SMEs and VT agents. The different types of relationships between VT centres and SMEs are analysed: formal education, in-company work training, hiring of graduates, continuous training, and innovation-related services. Results show that firms have a highly positive perception of VT centres' more "traditional" missions (graduate education and employability), but more advanced and innovation- related missions have a limited reach right now.