How can we develop learning environments, build mechanisms and establish resources to help cultivate innovative talents? That was the topic of discussion of the Education Innovation forum hosted by Intel China and Tsinghua University last week in Beijing. This was the first time where prominent educators from the top universities, K-12 schools, research institutions, NGOs worldwide had all come together to share views and best known methods on the subject. As the sponsors, there was also solid participation from the China Ministry of Education (MOE), China Youth League Central Committee(YLCC) and China Association for Science and Technology(CAST).As I listened to the keynotes and panel discussions - via superb simultaneous interpretation of course - the passion and energy in the room was amply clear. The dialog between the various parties on what works, what needs to change and on identifying the respective responsibilities within the system was stimulating. Many of the participants expressed their wishes to implement some of the best practices back in their schools right after the summit. The forum certainly proved to be an excellent start to Intel's "Educate to Innovate" campaign in China. I think a key learning here is that by providing a platform to bring together all the right parties from policymakers, academics, world-class educators, university presidents and professors to K-12 principals, teachers, students and members of the business community we were able to connect global perspectives with local practice, bridge university education with K-12 education, and explore effective ways to cultivate innovative talent of the nation. There is clearly a lot of work ahead but this was a great start, I will update the post to reflect the progress as we move forward.