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Talent Boost Summit focuses on Finland’s ability to attract and retain talent

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
Publication date 12.9.2019 10.03
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Talent Boost Summit to be held in Turku on 12 November will bring together a large number of representatives from companies, higher education institutions and cities to discuss the significance of international talent for growth and competitiveness. The programme has just been published and registration is now open to everyone – including you!

How can Finnish companies benefit from the expertise of international experts residing in Finland? How can we integrate them into the Finnish society and persuade them to stay here? How does international talent drive business?

This year, Talent Boost Summit focuses on two key themes: how to retain international talent, and the importance of international talent for business growth. The event, organised for the third time, is intended not only for companies but also for representatives of cities, experts in business services, ministries, universities, key individuals in various professional networks – and, of course, for the international specialists themselves. 

The keynote speaker at the event will be Yvonne van Hest, Program Director at Brainport Development, an Eindhoven-based expert organisation in regional development. Van Hest leads a team responsible for attracting talent, continuous learning, and innovation in the HR sector.

Competition for talent is global – attraction needs to be accompanied by retention

Talent Boost is a national programme and a platform for cooperation between different actors, designed to promote the immigration of labour, students and researchers, and to bring companies and international talent together. Programme activities focus on sectors suffering from labour shortage, and they target experts who are instrumental for the growth and internationalisation of enterprises and for RDI in the leading growth sectors. 

The objective of the Talent Boost programme is to attract international talent to Finland. Finland already boasts international talent, but their expertise and networks are not fully utilised in our labour market, or to support companies’ growth, internationalisation and innovation activities.

“The Finnish labour market is still very domestic, and many employers have no experience in international recruitment or multicultural working communities. Talent Boost will offer companies advice and tools for the internationalisation of personnel and the recruitment of international experts,” says Laura Lindeman, Chief Specialist at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

Finland will lose its attraction if international experts in Finland have poor experiences of employment and career opportunities in Finland. That is why we should pay as much attention to retaining talent as we do to attracting it.

“What makes Finland interesting for international talent, and affects their opportunities of entering the Finnish labour market is attitudes, non-discrimination and diversity of Finnish working life.  That is why we should focus equally much on retaining talent as we do on attracting talent,” Laura Lindeman emphasises.  

Join the Talent Boost Summit

Talent Boost Summit is organised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the City of Turku, Turku Science Park Ltd, Business Finland, the cities of Tampere, Helsinki and Espoo, ESF-funded “Kokka kohti Suomea” (Setting the course for Finland) project, and the Ministry of Education and Culture. Around 350 participants are expected to attend the event in Logomo, Turku.

Register for the Talent Boost Summit on the event website. Talent Boost Summit is a free event. The event language is English.

Take part in the discussion in social media: #TalentBoost

Inquiries:
Laura Lindeman, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 295 047 205

 
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