How to Develop Innovators:

Lessons from Nobel Laureates and

Great Entrepreneurs.
Innovation Education.

Professor Larisa Shavinina

Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada
E-mail: larisa.shavinina@uqo.ca
 Innovation-based economy

• needs innovators.
• What is innovation?
• What is creativity?
• Innovation gap.
 This presentation
is based on the preliminary findings from 3
ongoing projects:
• early childhood and adolescent education of
Nobel laureates in science (supported by the
SSHRC grant),
• their academic acceleration (supported by
the IRPA grant, The University of Iowa),
and
• the phenomenon of individual innovation
(supported by the FQRSC grant)
The common goal of 3 projects
• how to fully develop scientific talents and
innovative abilities.
• The concept “innovative abilities” refers to a
range of talents necessary for successful
implementation of (new) ideas into practice in the
form of new products, processes, and services.
They include entrepreneurial giftedness,
exceptional creativity, intuition, wisdom,
excellence, managerial talent, and leadership.
 The main finding of the first
project
• Nobel laureates in science had at least
one GREAT teacher.
• What does it mean?
• What are applications for gifted
education? Gifted children should be
taught by gifted teachers.
 Lessons learned from today’s
children: the case of my son
• Kids are interested in why not all
Nobel laureates in science were good
boys or girls at school (1st degree of
interest).
• This initial interest motivates kids to
learn more about laureates’ discoveries
(2nd degree of interest).
 What are the outcomes?
• Result: kids are becoming seriously interested in
science (3rd degree of interest).
• By-product: he is going to write a book on how
“supposed” delinquent boys and girls in school still
managed to make great scientific discoveries and
became Nobel laureates (4th degree of interest).
• Final outcome: deep involvement in science (the
highest degree of interest)
The phenomenon of individual
innovation
refers to a rare group of individuals,
who possess by a unique ability to both
generate great ideas and to implement
them into practice in the form of new
products, services, and processes by
putting into place all the necessary
organizational, human, and
‘environmental’ structures.
 The main characteristics of
innovators
• ability to implement things into
practice (the essence of innovation)
• unique vision (the essence of
giftedness)
 Great innovators are
characterized

by a unique combination of
entrepreneurial giftedness, exceptional
creativity, practical intuition, applied
wisdom, excellence, managerial talent,
and leadership (www.innocrex.com).
 Entrepreneurial giftedness
refers to
• talented individuals who have succeeded in
business by creating new ventures with at least a
minimal financial reward (fulfilled entrepreneurial
giftedness) or
• who demonstrated an exceptional potential ability
to succeed (prospective entrepreneurial
giftedness).
The two directions of my research
on entrepreneurial giftedness

• Its early signs

• Micro-social factors in its
development
 Early manifestations of
entrepreneurial giftedness
• Special: do real, practical projects and
implement their ideas into practice, etc.
• General: initiative, creativity, risk-taking,
competitiveness, perseverance to succeed,
hard working, etc.
 Micro-social factors in the
development of entrepreneurial
giftedness
• parents (i.e., nuclear family),
• other relatives (i.e., extended family),
• “significant others,” and
• great contemporaries
 Innovation education: a new
direction in gifted and general
education
• It refers to a wide range of educational
interventions aimed at developing and
transforming child talent into adult innovation.
That is, those societal actions aimed at preparing
(gifted) children to become adult innovators.
• Such educational interventions should include, but
should not be limited to, the seven interrelated
components.
Structure of innovation education

• The existing programs for the gifted, which

proved their effectiveness.
• New programs, which can be based on the
latest advances in the field of giftedness
(e.g., research on Nobel laureates).
• The essentials of deadline management.
Structure of innovation education
(cont.)
• Programs aimed at the development of
metacognitive abilities of the gifted. That is,
special emphasis should be made on the
fostering their abilities to implement things:
the so-called executive abilities.
• A general ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’
about innovation science, the basics of
innovation.
• Courage-related issues. For innovators to
succeed, the courage is compulsory.
 The immediate tasks for
advancing STEM agenda
encourage school principals and teachers to
attend 2 workshops:
• How to develop scientific talents of Nobel
calibre: Lessons learned from early
childhood and adolescent education of
Nobel Prize winners, and
• Innovation education as a way to develop
innovators (www.innocrex.com).
 Thank you!

• Questions?
• My e-mail address:
Larisa.Shavinina@uqo.ca