The educational context is living a situation of change due to the new international learning models and trends such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), emerging technologies and the need for change in internal contexts (review of teaching policies) and external contexts (economic crisis). This change needs to focus on the commitment of all actors involved in education: students, teachers and managers. Education and innovation are values that all governments are committed to as a solution for the current crisis and also as an investment for the future. In competitive contexts such as Industry or Economy, innovation is reinforced, managed and transferred. However, in learning contexts (university, business and non-university levels) there is a great lack of indicators in which educational innovation is based on, both for transforming models, processes and interaction with students and for applying them in different contexts. Therefore, it is time to join forces and jointly analyze the situation in order to integrate the educational area with the technological advances; also to integrate the institutional vision with the one of the teachers. The International Conference on Learning, Innovation and Competitiveness -CINAIC 2013- is a point of integration whose main aim is to promote the transfer of knowledge about educational innovation and the transition to educational research in various contexts as well as at international level. This special issue is composed by a selection of papers presented at CINAIC 2013 as a method to continue and extend its knowledge transfer mission.