It’s estimated we’ll need to upskill or reskill at least 85 million people by 2030 to prevent the global economy losing more than $8 trillion in GDP, as a result of artificial intelligence, automation, changing demographics and globalisation.

That’s got the world of business, politics and education talking - or better still, thinking.

So, this week on The Agenda, Stephen Cole finds out why Critical Thinking is such a sought-after skill, how it’s being taught in education, whether politicians are applying it enough and learns who are most likely to become the thinkers of the future.

Opening the show, Salah Khalil - Director of Macat International - joins Stephen to explain the overall concept of critical thinking and why it’s increasingly adopted by businesses to help humans compete with the machines of the future.

Lord Jim Knight joins the conversation to express how important it is for academia not to overlook the potential of using play-based learning as way of fostering critical thinking, which he says can significantly improve productivity in all areas of our lives.

And closing the show is Anthony McClaran, Vice-Chancellor of St Mary’s University in London. Anthony tells Stephen why critical thinking has been adopted as part of their curriculum, and why the use of social media by students is often a background barrier to their teaching efforts.