The major socio-economic forecasting studies recognise that talent will increasingly gain strategic importance as a critical element of competitiveness, innovation and international positioning for companies, countries and regions, as well as for all organisations, both public and private.
Talent, although we may not be fully aware of it, is an increasingly scarce commodity in the world. Tackling the major and rapid technological and competitive challenges, as well as the technological-digital and energy-climate transformations that are shaping 21st century society, will require professionals and people with new attitudes and skills.
The traditional industrial and service sectors that structure our social and productive system are losing competitiveness in Europe as a whole and, of course, in the Basque Country. Businesses in the old continent are increasingly threatened by the increasingly evident slowdown in the globalisation process and the growing strength and competition of China and other emerging economies. In reality, this is a complex process linked to a disruptive technological development that has the potential to completely transform our way of life and the key sectors of the economy: carbon-free industry, bank-free finance, platform-based commerce, driverless intelligent vehicles and new forms of mobility, blockchain transactions, digital leisure… And, as if that weren’t enough, the booming development of artificial intelligence, which threatens to replace or make obsolete a significant part of today’s professions.
Radical change is needed that requires talent, and trusting that generational replacement will be sufficient to make the changes, while turning a blind eye to the progressive ageing of the population, is by all accounts foolhardy. The viability of our socio-economic model will depend on the success of talent policies, on having people with the skills and abilities to generate progress within a new framework of social, economic and labour relations.
To this end, the Basque Country has no choice but to step up its efforts. The public and private sectors must join forces to promote large-scale initiatives and actions to generate, retain, attract and retain talent, making the most of its economic, social and environmental advantages.
But what kind of talent is needed? This is not an easy question to answer, but it is undoubtedly key to the strategy’s focus. In the past, the focus has been on attracting excellence in science, and this is undoubtedly a key area, but current needs are broader and go well beyond science.
The Basque Country needs entrepreneurs to develop and transform their innovative business ideas into competitive companies that generate skilled jobs and wealth.
In addition, the Basque Country needs to strengthen its institutional and business fabric with a wide range of profiles, from highly qualified operational staff to design new services and manage processes involving digitalisation and technology, to managers capable of leading multidisciplinary teams in a global environment and managing new decentralised and collaborative business models.
In addition, public administrations need people to transform their core services in the areas of social health, education and public safety and to adapt them to new social demands and rapid and disruptive technological change.
The drivers of this transformation in talent are well known. On the one hand, there is the capacity to generate talent, which, in addition to the value of universities and regulated training centres, must maximise lifelong learning, the promotion of entrepreneurship, the collaboration between educational centres at all levels and the business fabric, and on-the-job experimentation itself.
On the other hand, the Basque Country must promote and strengthen people’s ties with the territory. Especially those of young people starting out in their careers, but also those of established professionals, by activating dynamic and flexible bridges between education and working life.
Finally, the two previous drivers would be completely exhausted if these efforts were not accompanied and synchronised with the articulation of an innovative, dynamic and competitive business fabric that requires people and a territory that makes itself known, that seeks international recognition for rewarding and seeking talent, and that also seeks to welcome and embrace those who come from abroad so that they feel at home.
Illustration: Milad Fakurian
