TALENT4S3

Free movement of labour is one of the main freedoms recognised by the European Union and its single market and has long been regarded as a cornerstone of European Union competitiveness, facilitating the reduction of territorial imbalances, rigidities and skills mismatches. However, citizens and workers should move because they want to and not because they are pushed from their regions, among other reasons, by scarce economic opportunities.

There is currently an important debate in the European Union about the brain drain (emigration of qualified people) and the depopulation process that Europe has been suffering. As stated in the "Harnessing talent in Europe's regions" (COM 2023 32 final), "if left unaddressed, this process will trigger new and growing territorial disparities as regions age and fall behind in terms of size and skills of their workforce".

Improving policies to retain and attract talent to the regions in order to give citizens equal opportunities is therefore of high importance. The Smart Specialisation Strategies is an effective framework to positively address the brain drain issue as they can focus on the competitive advantages existing in one territory.

One of the ways of retaining and attracting talent is through the development of innovative policies coming from the national and regional authorities by a participatory learning process that involves the main economic and social agents (universities, private sector, citizens and public administrations) with the aim of jointly develop the right ecosystem where innovation and training/education can deliver quality jobs, the correct interrelation between supply and demand of professional profiles, and as a consequence, retain and attract talent.

Based on this widely shared problem throughout the EU27, the main objective of this project is to improve talent attraction and retention policies, thus ensuring the necessary talent for the effective development of smart specialisation strategies.