It's a stepping stone towards travelling to the planets and beyond. For that to be possible, all sorts of processes and techniques will be necessary - living, working, keeping fit, growing food, purifying water - all in space and in microgravity. These can be developed on the ISS.
Any interplanetary spacecraft will probably also have to be launched from an off-earth base, because it won't be possible to lift the machine and all its fuel and supplies off the surface in one go. The ISS probably isn't that base, but it gives us experience of building and operating a space station that will be useful when the time comes for the real thing.
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