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In response to the need to connect learning processes to ongoing transitions, and considering how the growing digitalisation of today's society requires a profound reconfiguration of education and welfare systems, this paper discusses the possibility that Innovation Studies (Fanizza, 2019; Fagerberg et al. 2013) provide an indispensable infrastructure for enhancing the practices of constructing new knowledge. Therefore, this paper proposes Innovation Studies as a methodological paradigm capable of making a structural contribution to the debate on interdisciplinarity and lifelong learning processes (OECD, 2024).

The central hypothesis is that the three constituent dimensions of Innovation Studies – methodology, interdisciplinarity and communication – can function as a connecting architecture between schools, universities, the labour market and local communities, promoting coordinated actions geared towards the needs of a heterogeneous plurality of social actors. It is not just a question of “studying” innovation, but of practising it as an educational tool: an approach that integrates empirical analysis, territorial experimentation and critical reflection, promoting learning environments capable of connecting formal, non-formal and informal education.

From a methodological point of view, Innovation Studies enhance the informative value of research and co-design processes between educational institutions and socio-economic actors (Ramella, 2015). In this perspective, lifelong learning becomes a space for reactivation for young people and adults, but also an area for the development of research skills for senior and junior researchers. The focus is particularly on building the transversal skills – analytical, collaborative and communicative – necessary to interpret the complexity of the knowledge society (Bauman, 2018).

The contribution highlights a crucial theoretical point: in the knowledge society, the problem is not the quantitative accumulation of knowledge, but rather the ability to learn new knowledge through the conscious use of plural scientific languages. Interdisciplinarity is not a simple juxtaposition of disciplines, but a cognitive and relational skill that allows different perspectives to be translated, integrated and communicated. In this sense, “learning to learn” takes on a political value: it becomes the condition for citizenship capable of navigating the processes of digitalisation, actively participating in the public sphere and addressing emerging inequalities.

Finally, communication plays a decisive role in countering the new forms of exclusion produced by the mediatisation of social life. Knowing how to communicate knowledge and transform it into social and professional competence means making innovation accessible, inclusive and transferable. In this way, Innovation Studies are a relevant methodological proposal not only for student training but also for the continuous qualification of researchers and professionals, from an intergenerational and interdisciplinary perspective.

In conclusion, the paper argues that Innovation Studies can contribute to the empowerment of societies, enabling them to connect learning processes, knowledge and skills in a permanent educational ecosystem.