“What Alberta’s economy really needs is a new generation of idea-makers,” says Todd Hirsch, senior economist at ATB Financial and co-author of a forth-coming book called Re-Writing the Code: Changing Canada’s Economic DNA, in a recent Calgary Herald column. “Creativity is an essential element in every occupation. In its broadest definition, creativity is the application of a clever idea to solve a problem, seeing something in a new way or making something unique.”

“Exercising that cleverness,” continues Hirsch, “is an economic imperative. Clever kids aren’t the ones who simply memorize information; clever kids are the ones who learn how to learn. Clever workers find simple solutions to the complex problems they encounter in their daily jobs. And the future of Alberta’s economic prosperity needs them both.”

Hirsch is not the only pundit preaching for an increase in Alberta’s, and Canada’s, innovation quotient. Kevin Lynch, vice-chair of the Bank of Montreal Financial Group, recently wrote in The Globe and Mail that “creativity lies at the heart of modern competitiveness.” But before the words were even out of his mouth, he quickly lamented that “Canada is not an innovation leader.”

Because economic competitiveness is increasingly defined by creativity, he says, “Canada cannot sustain above-average living standards” with only below-average investment in innovation. We must do better.

The good news, says Hirsch, is that “everyone is creative, or at least has the potential to be. And most of us have no idea of the creative capacity we possess. There is not a single sector of the economy that would not benefit from clever solutions to problems, new ways of seeing things and unique products.”

Hirsch and Lynch will be glad to learn these are precisely the kinds of skills and aptitudes that Calgary’s new TELUS World of Science has been designed to nurture in people of all ages.

The kind of informal education will will provide will be an essential part of the life-long learning that we will all require to keep ourselves – and our economy – competitive in the twenty-first century. Consider: children between the ages of 2 and 17 will spend just 22 per cent of their waking hours getting a formal, classroom-based education. This 22 per cent of concentrated learning is vital to their well-being, socialization, and knowledge development, but if Alberta and the rest of Canada is to develop an increasingly literate, innovative and creative citizenry, we need to help parents and children make good use of the other 78 per cent of their time.

The new TELUS World of Science, opening in Fall 2011, will allow children to explore and expand their innate creativity. It will also help young people adapt to the challenges they face as they navigate the tumultuous road to adulthood: the increasing pressure to succeed; the emphasis on conformity when they most need to maintain their youthful curiosity and creativity; and the demand to get the correct answers on the standardized tests to ensure them a spot at the university of their choice.

We also are designing ways to facilitate the kinds of discussions that adults are telling us they want to have about topics like the impact of the pharmaceutical industry and the politics of opium production (the essential element to generating codeine, something to which our aging joints can relate), or the efficacy of carbon capture for Alberta’s oil sands projects.

This is the new role that science centres can – and must – play in our communities.  No longer just a place to entertain the kids on a rainy Saturday, the new TELUS World of Science – Calgary will be a forum for dialogue, a location for authentic experiences with mechtronics technicians from SAIT, and a Friday night studio for music and video mashups with the latest digital technologies led by computer science students from Mount Royal University.

Our collective efforts, inspired by the need for an inspiring education both inside and beyond the classroom, will undoubtedly make Alberta an better place to live in 2030 and beyond.