No matter what the future holds, it seems probable that continual improvement in our human capital will hold us in good stead. But given the unpredictability of the world in which we live, we need to find the right balance between the development of specific technical and professional skills and the general cognitive skills that are central to flexibility and adaptability.
In each of these four areas – competition policy, the reward for innovation, the industrial relations system and the education system – the choices that we make are critical to the flexibility of the economy. 3  See, for example, Australian Government (2015), Facilitating Crowd-sourced Equity Funding and Reducing Compliance Costs for Small Businesses, Consultation Paper, The Treasury.