This analytical report examines how higher education institutions (HEIs) can support teachers and school leaders in secondary education to help their students to develop competencies for innovation, drawing on research evidence and policy and practice examples from a wide range of education systems. It offers five options for consideration by education policy makers to strengthen HEIs' role in supporting schools to develop human capacity for innovation: (1) Develop and include specific requirements on research, digital and green competencies into teacher professional standards, and support their integration in teacher-education curricula, (2) Support HEIs and schools to establish structured partnerships to jointly design, deliver and evaluate initial teacher education programmes that are anchored in pedagogical practice and research, (3) Support the professional development of teacher educators to enhance the quality and relevance of teaching and learning offered in initial teacher education, (4) Mobilise HEIs to develop diverse and flexible upskilling and reskilling opportunities on digital and climate change education, and incentivise research engagement among teachers, and (5) Engage experts from higher education in school self-evaluation and external quality assurance to build the capacity of school leaders and teachers to develop competencies for innovation.