Abstract
This paper outlines support for adopting a people-centred approach to economic development that has been taken forward in West Yorkshire — an approach that recognises that prosperity in a global economy is driven by ideas, information and knowledge. This is very different to the industrial economy of the past. It presents both a model for an integrated workforce development system and a framework for improving linkages between human capital and economic development. Indeed, it is understood that it is those local areas with a strong, adequately skilled, human capital base that are best placed to utilise knowledge and to transfer this know-how into cutting-edge techniques for the production of goods and services. As such, investment in people's knowledge and skills is a crucial aspect of achieving sustained economic growth in a networked, knowledge-driven, global economy.
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