German and Swiss researchers find higher educational mobility associated with greater innovation

European regions in which educational success depended less strongly on family background recorded a significant increase of around 11% in patent applications, according to a study by the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and the University of Zurich. The study suggests that proving that higher educational mobility is associated with greater innovative capacity,

Published in Nature on 09/07/2026, the study shows that "it is not only the average level of education that matters, but above all how fairly educational opportunities are distributed. When people have access to high-quality education regardless of their background, talents are used more effectively and thus contribute significantly to social and technological progress,” ZEW researcher Guido Neidhöfer explained…