This book explores the ways in which education impacts labor markets. Specifically, the contributions in this book indicate that the future of labor is creative, socially aware and inter-disciplinary while identifying the changes and innovations needed in our educational systems to meet this demand.

Due to an increasing automatization (robotic manufacturing), the character of labor and work in general will change dramatically in the near future. This will be the case not only in the western countries, but also in the larger emerging economies in Asia, for example China and India. While societal environments, economy and the character of labor are increasingly in a process of dramatic changes, the educational systems and the leading principles of research about labor and employment are not changing adequately. Cross-disciplinary (inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary) thinking and learning is not the main focus of our educational systems. Consequently, the systems of academic research follow and apply disciplinary or even sub-disciplinary strategies, avoiding cross-disciplinary research approaches, and not supporting inter-disciplinary academic career models. This book introduces such strategic models to better prepare the next generation of workers for the new knowledge economy, and the future of democratic societies.

Gerald Bast is president of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria since 2000. As university president Gerald Bast initiated various new programs and departments focusing on cross-disciplinarity and the interrelation between arts, science and society. He published in the fields of university law, university management as well as educational and cultural policy and lectures globally on the role of art, creativity, innovation and higher education.

Elias G. Carayannis is Full Professor of Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as well as co-Founder and co-Director of the Global and Entrepreneurial Finance Research Institute (GEFRI) and Director of Research on Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, European Union Research Center (EURC), at the School of Business of the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

David F. J. Campbell is Associate Professor (Privat-Dozent) in Political Science at the University of Vienna; a Project Manager and Researcher at the Center for Educational Management and Higher Education Development, Department for Continuing Education Research and Educational Technologies, at Danube University Krems; a Quality Enhancement Expert and Quality Researcher at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna; and a Research Fellow (Senior Scientist) at the Institute of Science Communication and Higher Education Research (WIHO), Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies (iff), Alpen-Adria-University of Klagenfurt.