Over the last number of years the author has been engaged with European Union initiatives concerning innovation in learning. Under the Transversal Research Lifelong Learning Program one major program, Creanova, examined the contours and imperatives of innovation and creativity as applied to the world of work. The project combined universities, regional governments and learning-design specialists in a web of research, experimentation and analysis to investigate innovtion and creativity in European society. The project operated from 2009-12 and its learning was incorporated into the Open Discovery Space initiative of the EU (2012-15), the largest innovative educational initiative ever funded by the EU. The focus is how learning processes are constructed to achieve sustainable innovation - linking creativity to capabilities to innovate in design and preparation of new processes, products or ideas. We outline the theoretical formulations of creativity underlying the European experience, referencing to key structured learning applications undertaken.