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TALENTS WITHOUT BORDERS
PAPER FOR VEDRÒ 2012
Rome, 26th August 2012
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TOPIC How to turn "brain drain" into a competitive advantage and
use it as a growth factor to place Italy among the Western
countries that can theoretically count on the most qualified
universities and most innovative businesses in the world? How to
make Italy competitive in the "war for talents" and “use" foreign
citizens better in order to be able to influence public opinion and
promote its image abroad? Main lines of actions:
• Bring back talents to the country: How to encourage the return
(in addition to tax incentives) and how to ensure that their return
is successful?
• Ensure, with proper tools, that those who decide to stay abroad
can still contribute to growth and cultural renewal of the country
through ideas and projects. How to create a structured network that
puts permanently in this connection “Italy widespread”.
• Attract foreign nationals: How to increase the quality and
quantity (to be discussed as "hard attraction" – to be
distinguished from a second type of marketing) of foreign workers
and highlevel researchers and what are the possible choices in
terms of segments to focus on.
• Enhance the contribution of foreign nationals with the ability to
draw opinion on projects (cultural or business) that can promote
and diffuse a positive image of the country oversea (this second
form of attraction can be referred to as "soft attraction”) in
order to increase the attraction of qualified workers and even
improve the work of foreigners on Italian projects abroad.
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INTRODUCTION
..............................................................................................................................................................
4 1. HARD ATTRACTION: ATTRACT FOREIGN TALENTS TO
ITALY........................................................ 7 1.1
ANALYSIS
......................................................................................................................................................................................................
7 1.2 WHAT OTHER COUNTRY DO
............................................................................................................................................................
10 1.3 POLICY OPTIONS
....................................................................................................................................................................................
13 2. SOFT ATTRACTION: VALORISATION OF THE FOREIGNERS’ CONTRIBUTION
ON ITALIAN PROJECT ABROAD
.......................................................................................................................................................
15 2.1 ANALYSIS
...................................................................................................................................................................................................
15 2.2 WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES DO
........................................................................................................................................................
17 2.3 POLICY OPTION
......................................................................................................................................................................................
20 CONCLUSIONS
...............................................................................................................................................................
21
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INTRODUCTION
CIRCULATION AND CONNECTION OF ITALIAN TALENT
The theme of the socalled "talent drain" is very present in the
national public debate. Much talk about it, but little is known,
and even less is done in terms of concrete policies. In
particular:
a) Italy encounters difficulties to attract: the offset of young
skilled nationals is not counterbalanced by the foreign high
skilled workers inflow.
b) An opportunity of growth lies in the involvement of the
underexploited rich Italian human capital abroad.
Actions are then to be set up on both aspects so that the mobility
of talent becomes an opportunity for the country.
PREMISSES: THE MOBILITY IS A VIRTUE
What do we mean by talent? It is not only a matter of semantics.
The design of a policy that comprehend how talent circulate and
aims at attracting foreigner talent, must know who to target in
order to be truly effective and not just propaganda initiative. Who
are the talents? A researcher who makes knowledge the core of his
profession? Or a qualified engineer who produces knowledge out of
his instrument? An entrepreneur who knows how to diffuse an
innovation? An athlete? An artist? "Talent" is of course all of
this, however, the available data usually refers to particular
categories (eg researchers) or to all graduates.
Are talents right to go? The answer is yes and for three good
reasons.
A. Facing a lack of opportunities in his/her place of birth, a
talent has the duty to seek a better condition to be given the
best: a vigorous plant transplanted to another site is better that
a wilting one at home. Put another way, a student or a worker
should move where the greater the chance are that his talents
blossom. A bright student forced to stay in Italy where he cannot
possibly make the career he deserves, certainly faces frustration,
but this also affects the student community as a whole.
Within the research community, it is possible to assess the
performance of the Italian researchers abroad: for instance, by
counting the publications in best international reviews and the
registered patents. In this regard, Icom (2011) estimated the value
generated, in terms of value of patents held by the twenty best
Italian scientists living abroad: The estimated value produced by
these scientists reaches 861 million Euros or, in other words, a
loss of 63 million per scientist for Italy. Before asking whether
Italy has lost something is better to wonder: would have these
twenty top scientists produced the same number of patents if they
had stayed in Italy? The same goes for the Italian researchers with
the most cited publications working abroad: being abroad has
probably contributed to their performance.
The talent circulation can also benefit to their country of origin.
The OECD found a positive correlation between being abroad and the
ability to produce the best research (OECD 2009). Therefore being
able to brink talents who are studying or working abroad back to
Italy could improve the reputation and efficiency of the whole
research institutions.
B. Also, regardless to whatever the country of origin can offer,
mobility for studying and working is generally seen as positive
because it allows to enrich education, to face various situations,
to build up an international network.
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C. The mobility and world openness is in the new generations ‘DNA.
As confirmed by various researches the new generations are
increasingly globalized, used to travelling frequently and to
interacting with different cultures.
To move beyond borders is therefore a choice to support and
encourage.
Do we have to worry about the phenomenon?
Italy's problem is not the number of talents who go away, but the
foreign talents who do not come in. This impoverishes our country
and makes it enter into a downward spiral. Not surprisingly, the
most dynamic and competitive countries consider strategic policies
to attract talented young people and recognize them as a real
investment in regard to the opportunity they represent.
A “zeromobility” situation is not an optimal condition for a
country. Entrapping its talents is not an accurate solution for a
country. On the other hand, the oneway flight is not desirable
either, because it depletes the place of departure. The optimal
condition is mobility, i.e. being able to go and return with the
same ease. Otherwise nations face the risk of entering a vicious
cycle: Young people leave if the country does not change and
without the energy and intelligence of young people, it becomes
more and more difficult to change.
BUILDING A STRATEGY FOR ITALY CONSIDERING OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES’
GOOD PRACTICES AND THE SUCCESSES OF SOME ITALIAN “PLAYERS”
Why is London attracting Russian magnates (and talents) and Arab
Sheiks?
Historically, the UK has maintained a liberal investment policy and
generally makes no policy distinction between domestic and foreign
investments, but it doesn’t seem to be the reason of such an
advantage over the other European countries. Akhmed Zakayev, a
former Shakespearean actor whom the Kremlin considered as a
Chechenyan rebel received asylum in the UK "thanks to the law of
this country". For Yekaterina Lebedeva, a concert pianist "One
thing that strikes me in London is that you feel there are
opportunities and things you can achieve, a sense of artistic
freedom". Andrei Nekrasov, a Russian filmmaker who lived for many
years in London before he moved to Berlin, explained "Germany is
good for savers; London is for spenders."London and the UK have
been the destination of the elite for decades but also an
attractive place for those seeking for freedom and opportunities.
Currently, more than 25% of the businesses located in London are
under foreign ownership. The city is profiting from successive
waves of the ultra rich American bankers, Arab sheiks, Hong Kong
Chinese. More precisely, over 300,000 Russians have made London
their home.
Why is Spain the first destination of Erasmus students?
L’Auberge espagnole/Une casa de locos, a 2002 movie which tells the
story of a French Erasmus student in Barcelona made the city of
Gaudi the Erasmus capital. In this special category, mainly French,
German and Italian students come to Spain, especially to Madrid,
Granada, Valencia and Barcelona. Several factors may explain the
attractiveness of Spain: the importance of Spanish language
worldwide, the international image of Spain, its climate and
culture, its night life, and also the mouth to ear among students
after their Spanish Erasmus experience.
How come a country with such a serious image like Germany has
managed to appear in the top “glamour” global brands ranking with
the highest number of brands than all the other European countries
put together?
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Nivea, Adidas, Heinz, Mercedes, Siemens… German brands have
prominent positions in almost every major global market. The
Germans have drawn an image of luxury and quality. The Economist
says, "It's quite simple really, Germany makes things which people
in countries with growing economies want to buy." Engineers occupy
a high pedestal in this country that prizes technology and
craftsmanship. BMW, MercedesBenz, Audi and Porsche are usually
considered the top brands in the car industry with which other
brand cannot keep up. This can be explained by the long History of
the German car industry, but also by the numerous racing successes
which told an impressive story of high technology and
reliability.
How come Paris attracts so many international celebrities, and in
particular, why have the four most famous Italian actresses since
the Second World War moved to the French capital?
Despite the legendary arrogance of the Frenchies, Paris is the
first destination of tourism in the world, one of the most
attractive city of international students, and the home of many
celebrities and famous couples. Many times, Paris was chosen to set
movies such as Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci), Amélie
Poulain (Jean Pierre Jeunet) , Marie Antoinette (Sophia Coppola),
Everyone says I love you (Woodie Allen). For this reason, many
actors fell in love with and in the city and decided to settle in
France: Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti, Jim Morrison and Pamela
Courson, Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, Johnny Deep and
Vanessa Paradis. In particular, as a magnet, Paris has attracted
the most famous Italian actresses since the Post Second World War:
next to Monica Bellucci and Sophia Loren, Ornella Muti and Claudia
Cardinale, and also the model and singer Carla Bruni. Again,
everything cannot be explained by the tax scheme. The French
capital benefits from a colorful image full of symbolism: city of
the lovers, city of fashion, city of the Revolution, city of
culture and knowledge, with its many museum and monuments,
prestigious universities and schools (Sorbonne, Sciences Po Paris),
renowned quality of life and night events which make the French
Capital one of the favorite places of the Jet Set.
Why cannot the Italian football, which was the most beautiful in
the world, afford international “top players” and see the bulk of
its best Italian young players go abroad?
It is easy to answer that it is simply a question of money.
However, it is said that the football players are probably the less
important talent category to attract and retain. This consideration
is part of the truth, and yet if the Italian clubs have no more
money, it is more a question of twisted management than the result
of a political decision. Conversely, it is true that it is relevant
for a country to keep, attract and grow sports talent, especially
because sporting events can generate an important outcome in the
real economy, diffuse a positive image which can benefit to the
whole country, and pass on values and the desire to get into the
game to future generations.
… yet there are also important Italian examples:
The Ferrari brand. Italy is seen as the cradle of design and
creativity. Along with the Fiat, Ferrari is the brand that is most
associated with the concept of Made in Italy. Also, Ferrari is the
most popular brand on Internet, according to a special survey
conducted by Reputation ActValue manager (the final result takes
into account the reputation of the Interbrand Top 100 brands
ranking among users of Internet). Ferrari won the top step of the
podium collecting 92% positive score. Ferrari stands in front of
the major brands of Italian luxury.
…or some universities in terms of attraction of foreign students.
Between 2004 and 2008 the number of international students grew by
91.8% in Italy. The absolute number of students from the largest
and emerging economies has quadrupled from 2,500 to 10,000 units
between 2003 and 2010. However, this performance is to be ascribed
to a few universities. The Politecnico di Torino, the Politecnico
di Milano and the University of Bologna, alone, account for 33.8%
of the overall growth of the seventysix Italian universities
(Extraordinary performance of the Polytechnic of Turin, which goes
from 212 to 1,401, increasing by 561% in 4 years).
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1. HARD ATTRACTION: ATTRACT FOREIGN TALENTS TO ITALY
1.1 ANALYSIS The advanced countries are competing for attracting
more talents. The migration of students is certainly a stronger
phenomenon than other segments of skilled foreigners (managers,
ICTs specialists, artists, journalists…), and for which the growth
implies higher economic values. The following study mainly focuses
on this specific population in order to draw the attention on what
we can consider as “hard attraction”. In the “war for talents”,
Italy is struggling to attract highskilled foreigners. The current
conditions of the Italian labor market does not allow Italy to be
an attractive destination for skilled foreign workers, not being
able itself to retain its high qualified nationals. Another
dissuasive cause lies in an adverse selection effect linked to
immigration bureaucratic burden. Positive examples lie in the
cities where many foreigners move to. London, for instance, is
collecting a high percentage of foreigners attracted by better
working conditions and the perspective of success. A correct
segmentation of the potential "talents" is necessary in order to
implement an accurate strategy. Incentive policy for foreign
investments, efficient infrastructures, internationalization of
universities and targeted immigration policy are several
determinants of attractiveness of a country we might call “hard
attraction”.
International students: The phenomenon dimension and the Italian
position
The significant growth of the international student market is a
reality in sociocultural and economic terms. If international
students were 1,630,000 in 1998, their number has grown to
3,340,000 over the last ten years, i.e. their number has more than
doubled.
Another interesting fact is the high average unit value that an
economic system can acquire by attracting foreign students. An
estimate conducted by the Vision 2011 conference on "university of
the future" (which considers the average students who study at a
university outside Europe) demonstrated that not only international
students are an indicator of the university system’s
attractiveness, but also a real economic resource for the hosting
country / city / institution. The economic value of an
international student considering tuition fees, living expenses in
the city (rent, expenses, etc..), entertainment expenses, etc.. is
around 34 000 £ (about 41,000 €) per year. Besides the economic
value, all the implications in terms of cultural openness,
knowledge of the different diffusion of new or different ideas and
values, a greater and deeper understanding of the basic values of
democracy are to be considered. There are many positive
externalities related to the increasing influx of higher human
capital (e.g. foreign graduates), however the impact of skilled
individuals migration varies according to the particularities of a
sector, as well as the mechanisms that preside over these
movements, and consequently the political actions which should
govern them.
All countries are not able to benefit the same way from the
opportunity offered by the expansion of this market. This is the
case of Italy. Although our country has the privilege to host
prestigious and seniority universities, the Italian university
system as whole encounters difficulties in attracting students
compared to their neighbors. The following chart shows the market
shares of international students by country.
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Graph 1: Market share of International student per country
(2008).
Source: Vision analysis based on OECD data, Education at a Glance
2008.
An analysis conducted by Vision on international students enrolled
in our country clearly shows that the Italian university system
(some universities such as the University for Foreigners of
Perugia, Bocconi, the polytechnic of Turin and Milan made
exceptions) does not actively and consciously search for attracting
international students or particular segments of these students but
it rather takes a passive attitude, accepting the situation, and
does not show any selfpromotion effort towards students willing to
study abroad.
Not only international students who arrive in Italy are few but
very few are those who come from countries with strong university
systems. The nationalities most represented by international
students enrolled in Italian universities are except for China
which is the largest exporter of international students worldwide
those geographically closest to Italy: Albania and Romania. In
fact, Italy has less international students than there are Italian
students going oversea. The largest community of international
students is the Albanian community that, with its 10,961 units, is
bigger than the USA, UK, Chinese, Brazilian, Russian, French and
German student communities put together. More detailed analyzes
show that it is often young immigrants, probably of second
generation, which, in many cases, have done their studies in Italy
since primary school.
In short, Italy is losing potential international students and
retains only a slight advantage over Spain among the big countries.
However, Spain is the most attractive country for Erasmus
students.
The delay position of Italy is not a final condemnation. The market
of the "war for talents" is highly dynamic and in this frame, Italy
may have its chances.
Foreign highskilled workers
The role of foreign skilled workers becomes more and more important
in the current situation of economic crisis. Because they allow a
country to enlarge its international network, they represent an
opportunity of economical growth. The decision to change country is
driven by the search for a location where to express his potential
and access a better wage. The possibility for foreign talents to
live in an appropriate environment is also linked to an index of
features such as the availability of efficient infrastructures,
skilled workers, or an encouraging immigration policy.
In order to assess the attractiveness of foreign skilled workers,
the graph below presents an analysis of the share of immigrants
over the total population and the share of educated immigrants over
the total immigrant population in 2000 in the largest European
countries. These data stress several results. First of
18,7%
10,0%
USA Uk Germany France Italy Spain
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all, in terms of stock of immigrants, and given the total
population of each of these countries1, the UK, Germany and France
are far more “attractive” than Spain and Italy. A second result is
the importance of skilled foreigners among the immigrants coming to
the UK and Germany. France does not attract so many skilled
foreigners among the stock of immigrants, probably because of a
familial reunion oriented immigration policy at this time. Italy
not only attracts fewer immigrants than other countries, but
benefits from the smallest share of skilled immigrants.
Graph 2: share of immigrants over total population, and share of
tertiary educated over total stock of immigrants in 2000.
Source: F.Docquier, A. Marfouck and B.L. Lowell (2007).
What is the reason of such a situation?
For many analysts and politicians, the solution to attract foreign
talents lie in the tax incentives. However, the impact of such
policy is rather light. Below is a table with the tax rate on
individual income, per country, for people with income over €
150,000. These data, in regards to the precedent results, allow to
conclude that the tax scheme is not the main determinant of the
attractiveness of foreign talents.
Table 1: personal income tax rates for incomes over € 150,000 in
the major European economies
Paesi Aliquota
Italia 43% Germania 42% Francia 41% Spagna 44% Inghilterrra
40%
Source: Vision on the Fiscal scheme in France, Germania, England,
Spain and Italy
In fact, as we will develop further, the reasons are more complex
and cannot be limited to tax incentives.
1 In 2000, the total population of the UK was 58,8 millions
habitants, Germany: 82,7, France, 60, Spain 40,5 and Italy 57,7
millions.
6 5,7 6,1 3,9
Share of immigrants over the total population
Share of tertiary educated immigrants over the stock of
immigrants
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1.2 WHAT OTHER COUNTRY DO
In the war for talents, many countries have set up new policies in
order to make their universities and economy more attractive. These
policies mainly consist in the internationalization of university,
immigration reforms or tax incentive to make foreign investment
easier where the local industry is growing.
FRANCE
In order for the professional immigration to meet the needs of
business and be adapted to the carrying capacity of France, given
the economic condition changes, France has reformed its immigration
policy in 20062 to facilitate the immigration of certain workers
and students by implementing new type of residence permits:
• Skills and talent residence permit: (Article L.315 1, CESEDA3):
this residence permit aims at attracting high skilled workers
carrying on a project in the fields of culture, sport, science, or
development, likely to contribute to the French influence abroad.
It lasts for 3 years and can be renewed once. The target of this
policy are the citizens of the countries of a “priority solidarity
zone4”
• Scientific residence permit (Article L:3138 CESEDA) : this one
year residence permit granted PhD students willing to conduct
researches in France. This permit can be renewed for 4 years. Any
nonUE citizen can apply for this permit.
• France also granted a six months permit residence extension to
nonUE citizens who obtained a Master degree in a French University
to give them the opportunity to find a job in the field of their
study.
• In 2008, France established a list of professional sectors facing
difficulties in recruiting, and implemented new procedures to
facilitate the migration of foreign workers. It applies to the
citizens of the new members of the UE for a list of 150
professions, and on a worldwide scale for 30 others, with special
agreements with nine French speaking countries of Africa.
• International agreements to organize “young professional
exchange” were signed with Argentina, US, Canada, Bulgaria,
Romania, Morocco and Tunisia to allow 18 to 35 years old young
professionals to work abroad from 3 to 18 months.
Poles de competitivité and Pole de recherches et d’enseignement
supérieur (PRES) are a cluster policy and an university reform
implemented both in 2005 and aiming to increase mobility and the
attractiveness of the French regions in hightechnology sectors such
as biotechnology, space, or ICTs and developing the
internationalization of French Universities. These clusters involve
public and private research institutions, universities and
companies from a given region, combined under a single
administrative umbrella. Their goal is to encourage teamwork
(thanks to tax incentives scheme, assistance, subsidies, and a
reform to facilitate foreign investments), attract foreign
investments and facilitate international partnership and
mobility.
GREAT BRETAIN
Since April 2012, the British Council provides services to the
education institutions for international education marketing in 37
markets5, since April 2012 (41 from 20136). These services consist
of:
• Consultancy: evaluation of partnership opportunity, competitor
analysis, scholarship promotion,
2 Loi n°2006-911 du 24 juillet 2006 relative à l’immigration et à
l’intégration
http://www.immigration.gouv.fr/spip.php?page=dossiers_det_imm&numrubrique=286&numarticle=1833
3 Carte mention « compétences et talents », Code de l’entrée et du
séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile. 4 See map
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/jpg/Cartezsp02.jpg 5 The 37
market are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus,
Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,
Japan, Jordan/Iraq, Kazakhstan, Korea, KSA /Saoudi, Kuwait,
Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russia,
Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, USA,
and Vietnam. 6 From 2013, the British Council will extent these
services to Colombia, Italy, Israel and Romania.
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• Transnational education services to help build programs and
international network, • Education intelligence (research on
country profile, demographic an education issue,
studentdecision
making survey) • Specific training to agents incountry for
knowledge and capacity building.
The United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) is a national
government agency that offers free support and independent advice
to foreign companies looking to invest or locate in the UK. UKTI
provides market information, location guidance, practical advisory
on government incentives and regulation in 33 countries:
• Asia: China and Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia,
Korea, and Taiwan • Americas: USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil • Africa:
Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and South Africa • Oceania:
NZ and Australia • MENA countries and Israel • European
countries.
The Tech City UK initiative aims to build on the existing cluster
of technology companies in East London to create a worldleading
technology hub. The Tech City Investment Organisation (TCIO) is
dedicated to driving investments to the area, giving practical
support and networking advice to help members succeed. Since 2012,
58 Enterprise Zones have been identified where a combination of
financial incentives and reduced planning restrictions applies, in
order to stimulate manufacturing opportunities, business creation
as well as investment. The TCIO organises large scale events such
as the Entrepreneurs Festival in 2011 to attract most innovative
business entrepreneurs and investors and increase the visibility of
the cluster members.
The UK has implemented a simplified immigration policy based on
several visa, called “tiers”. The “highly skilled Migrants” may
apply to the “Tiers 1”visa, which offers specific rules and
procedure depending on the category of migrants who want to move to
the UK i.e: “Exceptional talents” (people who are recognized as
leaders in the fields of science and the arts), Entrepreneurs
(people who want to set up or take over a business in the UK), and
Investors. “Skilled Workers” who have been offered jobs in the UK
may apply for Tiers2 under a pointsbased system which encompasses:
Sportsperson, intra company transfer, religious staff, and a
“General” category.
GERMANY
Germany is the third destination of international students in the
world after the USA and Great Britain. To attract even more
international students, Germany relaxed the rules for the awarding
of grants, developed new agreements with foreign partner
universities, and is focusing on the quality of the study programs
(including guidance and counseling). Furthermore, the immigration
policy allows foreign graduated of German universities to extend
their resident permit up to one year to find an employment which
matches their skills. German research institutions have opened up
their project funding programs to the international community. The
German’s strategy to attract foreign researchers is based on
cooperative projects and involves several institutions (university
and nonuniversity research institutions) coordinated by the federal
states.
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is a research funding
organization aiming to address challenges such as the need to
provide sustainable support for young researchers and support for
networking in the field of research between scientists and
researchers in Germany and abroad. Since 2000, the DFG has
developed an international strategy: several representation offices
were set up abroad in collaboration with foreign national science
organizations to promote partnership between researchers in
country: following the opening of the SinoGerman Center for
Research Promotion in Beijing, many representation office have been
set up, in Washington and New York (collaboration with Canada and
the US), in Moscow, in Delhi, in Japan, Sao Paolo (collaboration
with Brazil and Chile) and Poland. The range of crossborder
projects meanwhile extends from ordinary academic exchange grants
and fellowships to
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financial support for scientific events. To advance
internationalization, the DFG has opened its funding programmes for
international collaboration between researchers. At the European
level, the process of European integration and an emerging
"European Research Area" led the DFG to focus particular attention
on scientific and research cooperation in Europe.
The DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) is a funding
organization supporting the international exchange of students and
scholars. It provides information on the country specific
scholarship programs, the universities projects, scientific
cooperation, visa regulations, The German Academic Exchange Service
to foster international mobility of researchers and students.
Acttracting Foreign Investments: Germany is an attractive location
for investments, thanks to the availability of direct access to the
markets, efficient infrastructures, and the quality of the
universities and research institutions. However, South and East
Asia are draining more and more R&D investments. To reverse
this trend, the Federal Government established the HighTech StartUp
fund in 2005, as part of the HighTech Strategy. This fund consist
of 15 billion € subsidies to attract start ups and additional 6,5
billion € to encourage international research and
development.
SPAIN
Within the first 4 years of the Erasmus Mundus program, Spain
invested 400 million Euros to welcome 6 000 European students.
Spain is envisaging to extend this initiative to Master and PhD
students with 24,000 € per capita and per year, for an overall
budget of 950 million Euro corresponding to 20,000 scholarships,
with the intention of attracting Chinese, Indians and Africans
students.
Spain set up three special residence permit or visa in order for
non European students (Residence authorization), researchers
(Temporal residence and work authorization) for researchers, and
workers (Blue card for workers) to come in Spain for more than 6
months and up to 5 years (depending on the conditions and reasons
of their residence). Foreign researchers and workers who come to
Spain have to contribute to the tax system. However, bilateral
agreements were signed with different countries to prevent foreign
researchers to pay double tax contribution. Also, foreign workers,
researchers and students all benefit from the social care cover.
For instance, pregnant women have the same right no matter their
nationalities.
The Spanish Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation carried
out the 2011 Law for Science, Technology and innovation (LCTI), a
policy aiming at encouraging science and knowledge transfers. This
law set up common recruitment rules in public research
institutions, and offers equal condition access for nationals and
Foreigners (with residence permit) to public scientific
carrier.
The Beckham law was implemented in 2004 in order to attract high
skilled foreigners through tax incentives: this law allows these
foreign residents to pay 24% incomes taxes (instead of 43%, for
usual taxpayers whose income overweight 600 000 €). The law is
named after the famous soccer player Beckham since it was
introduced simultaneously with his arrival in Spain.
ITALY
A National strategy to attract foreign students started 10 years
ago which mainly consists of bilateral cooperation agreements with
foreign countries. For instance, Italy and China, under the Marco
Polo project agreed on common principles to give accreditation to
universities and programs. Italy also set up new dispositions to
welcome Chinese students. The outcome of this agreement is an
increasing number of Chinese students (from few hundreds to more
than 4000 in 2012).
13 Mission of Vision is to contribute to the dissemination of
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A second aspect of this strategy is the implementation of new
disposition to facilitate access to Visa for international student.
The willingness of Italian universities to attract foreign student
and to develop internationalization has increased over the last
years. Some of them developed master degree and PHD program in
English, but most of them have kept the Italian language so that
they developed Italian as a second language for foreign
students.
The University of Perugia for foreign students was created in 1926.
Its first mission was the teaching of Italian as a second language,
Italian culture and History for foreigners. For instance, the
University of Perugia offers a one month Intensive Erasmus Italian
courses for Erasmus students. If these activities still remain its
business core, “in order to adapt to the challenge of the century”,
since 1992, its mission has expanded to graduated programs (up to
Doctorate), 50% students are foreigners.
1.3 POLICY OPTIONS A specific policy based on the studying of the
attraction factors and valorization of each of targeted segments
should be developed. However, some indications are ready
widespread: The first important step is to facilitate temporary and
permanent residence through the reduction of bureaucracy burden
when workers decide to move from strategic areas (such as from
Japan). Some services should therefore be introduced for high
skilled foreigners, able to reduce and facilitate the bureaucratic
procedures, thanks to a simplified English language (as, for
example, in Spain or Great Britain). The next step is the
introduction of economic incentives for the attraction of strategic
segments (Asian engineers, ICT specialists, Chinese and Indian
students, skilled workers) that are identified through the use of
marketing tools.
It is also of a high importance to develop internationalization of
Italian universities, which includes actions such as:
• The creation of attraction centers for International students •
Services to look for an accommodation • Increasing the number of
courses dispensed in English language. • The introduction of free
Italian courses for those who follow courses in English.
Similar considerations may apply to different segments of
foreigners, but especially for cities and regions willing to give
priority to the attraction of foreign nationals.
Midtolong term actions
• Increase the investments in research focusing on specific fields
on which we are likely to achieve a competitive advantage (the
concept of "smart specialization") or a minimum critical mass of
investments;
• Selection of universities and research fields: Setting up a
marketing strategy to promote the Italian university system means
selecting the universities that can be "champions" of the
attraction process (23 poles can enter the top20 ranking); also
identifying research fields of excellence becomes essential to
facilitate the knowledge and information spillover and generate
positive externalities;
• Incentives tax policies for determinant targeted segment:
depending on the nationalities, types of work or qualifications
(for instance lower taxes or exemptions depending on area of
residence or business);
• A better exploitation of the competitive advantage of Italy in
terms of culture, art and history, to make more attractive the
Italian Offer;
14 Mission of Vision is to contribute to the dissemination of
ideas.
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• Decreasing the fee of universities paid by foreigner and Erasmus
students; and set up facility to allow Erasmus students to stay or
come back.
• Incentive tax policy to encourage the constant presence of talent
in our country. This applies to the best researchers and new
entrepreneurs in specific areas selected as strategic for the
increased productivity of Italian system;
Incentives to attract foreign talents in our country:
a) Simplification of bureaucracy for foreigners: Exclusion of
foreigners with qualifications equal to or higher education degree
from the immigration flow decree in order to facilitate
bureaucratic procedures to obtain and renew residence
permits.
b) Reducing the mandatory social security contributions for
foreigners: Lowering the annual salary threshold above which no
social security contributions are paid for from € 93,000 to €
40/45.000 for graduated and postgraduated immigrants, in order to
make wages more competitive.
c) Reducing the tax wedge (eg: social security
contributions).
All those actions must follow an analysis of marketing tools that
are to become the assets of anyone willing to launch an ambitious
marketing operation of the Italian system. What is the value of the
different segments of foreigners we can attract regarding the
specific needs of Italy, its productive sectors, territories and
universities? What factors do these segments consider when deciding
to go abroad? Who are the competitors and how am I positioned –
Italy, territories, university – regarding the determinant factors
of the segments I want to attract most? On this type of strategic
issues, there is a vacuum of knowledge that think tanks or
university should fill up prior to the definition of any policy
(and this both applies to attract high professionals, students and
tourists), with the intention of creating tools to enhance the
skills of public administration.
Please n
2. SOFT CONTR
2.1 ANAL The capacit image it dif national foo throughout might
cross soft attract foreign tour to produce visibility and crucial
role Chamber of Table1: the
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16 Mission of Vision is to contribute to the dissemination of
ideas.
Please note that the unauthorized use of documents covered by
copyright is prosecuted in all Member States.
the world GDP growth (3.1%).Following these trends, the market
would hit 1.8 billion international tourists by 20307.
However, the economic value and growth rates of this niche market
make competition harder: if Italy had been in first place among the
great powers of world tourism until the early nineties, the “Bel
Paese” (the Beautiful Country) has steadily slipped in the rankings
over the following decades. Currently nearly eighty million
international tourists come to France every year, compared to just
over forty who land in Italy. The following graph puts alongside
the market shares of the states that attract the largest number of
international tourists in 1990 and 2010.
Nevertheless, the Italian tourism industry should not only compete
with its neighbors but also with the ones that were considered the
emerging Asian economies until some time ago: China and India.
Indeed, a careful analysis of flows and destinations chosen by
tourists with international mobility points out an appreciable
increase in travel to Asia: in 1990 when 60% of international
travelers chose Europe as a destination, that market share is
increasingly eroded by the growing interest of tourists to the Far
East, up to the point that, according to our analysis, the market
share of Europe will be reduced from nineteen percent, down to 41%
by 2030.
Graph 4: International tourism market share (1990 and 2010) per
country
Source: Vision&Value with the World Tourism Organization
data
Brands & National image
Another soft attraction indicator may be represented by the
recognition of the major national brands abroad. The more visible,
the more attractive and valuable the brand is, for itself, but also
indirectly for the rest of the country in terms of “symbolic
capital” (to borrow a sociologic concept). In this regard, it is
interesting to observe the results of the latest ranking published
by Interbrand, an annual ranking of the top 100 brands in the
world, dominated by U.S. brands (that represents 48 out of 100
brand; and are hegemonic in the top 10). In order to assess the
factor of soft attraction for each country, we assigned points to
each country according the brand ranking:
Country’s points = 100 n +1 n being the ranking position of the
brand, so that the top brand gets 101 points and the last brand is
given a score of 1.
7 UNWTO, International tourists to hit 1.8 billion by 2030,
2011
1% 1%
4,6% 5,1%
1990 2010
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ideas.
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copyright is prosecuted in all Member States.
After scoring the brands, the data are gathered given their
nationalities, so that we can compare the results per country. The
chart below shows the score of 5 European countries, given the rank
of their brands in 2011. The table presents the number of brands
and their nationalities among the top 100 global brands between
2001 and 2011. A first result is the progression of European brands
within this ranking. This analysis also points out the predominant
position and growing number of German brands, followed by the
French brands. The British and Italian brands‘scores remained
stable, while the Spanish brands realized a breakthrough,
overtaking Italian brands; however the UK counterbalances this
stagnation with a better position, and a higher attraction of
foreign talents and investments. Table 4.1: Number of brands in the
top 100 global brands per country
2001 2011 N. di brands N. di brands
Germania 7 10 Francia 3 7
UK 5 5 Spagna 0 2
Italia 3 3 Source: Vision on Interbrand’s data (Best Global Brands
20012011)
Graph 4.2: Overall score per country (2011)
Source: Vision on Interbrand’s data (Best Global Brands
20012011)
2.2 WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES DO Many countries understood long ago the
fundamental role of national cultural institutes in the promotion
of culture and language, alongside embassies and consulates. But
Cultural Institutes are not the only tool
521
332
Germany France UK Spain Italy
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ideas.
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for the diffusion of a positive image of their country worldwide.
Country marketing may also involve initiatives to promote national
brands. FRANCE: The Institut français is an operator of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European External Action of France
promoting French culture overseas. It is a network embodying 101
French institutes and 125 offices around the world. They are in
charge of the promotion of cultural and scientific cooperation,
organizing artistic exchanges and dissemination of scientific
culture. The French Institute encourages the mobility of French
artists abroad and welcomes foreigner artists to France through the
International Residency program to promote cultural diversity. The
French institutes work closely with L’Alliance française, a
foundation giving label to more than 1000 nonprofit organizations
in 135 countries which aims at teaching French as a foreign
language and promoting French culture and Francophonie. The pole de
competitivité policy also aims at increasing the visibility of the
regions by enlightening specific competences, and by allowing SMEs
and research institutions to benefit from the recognition of the
big societies they are working with. For example, in the
MidiPyrénées region and more precisely in Toulouse, within the
Aerospace Valley cluster, several SMEs may take advantage of their
partnership with EADS, Airbus and Thales. To promote the
agriculture and food processing industry for which this region is
famous in France, a cluster, Agrimip, was created. The Regional
Chamber of Commerce and Industry helps organize exhibitions in
France and abroad, such as the famous Salon du Bourget, to promote
the activities of these enterprises, increase their visibility and
develop their international network.
GREAT BRITAIN: The British Council is an organisation which
provides English teaching, promotion of Art, UK culture and way of
living in over 100 countries and aiming at developing creative
leadership, professional networks and cultural educational
programmes worldwide. The British Council also delivers English
teaching by radio, web and broadcast. BC also organizes various
exhibitions, festival and events, in many fields, such as “cafés
scientifiques”, informal events to engage people with creative
ideas about science, or the “Zero carbon city” to raise people
awareness on climate change and energy efficiency. It works in
collaboration with the UK Government, the British Chamber of
Commerce and UKTI; private partners such as BBC, Microsoft, HSBC or
Barclays; and international organization such as Unicef. Also, the
British Council has set up a 4 year program (20112015) to reshape
its overseas network, enhance its efficiency and respond to demand
from new governments to increase opportunity and employability
through English. By 2015, the British Council is willing to develop
its digital English teaching and broadcasting to reach 100 million
digital customers and viewers. It wishes to organize up to 9
million events, festival and exhibitions worldwide by 2015, out of
which 5 would be devoted to arts. A special focus is given to the
world’s poorest countries to develop primary purpose development.
The BC developed a set of priorities for each of the continent
based on the cultural, demographic and economic context. To foster
education institution visibility worldwide, in the international
education marketing framework implemented in April 2012, the
British Council also developed services such as:
• Exhibitions, virtual exhibition events, and targeted
marketspecific events to engage with prospective students and build
links with local education providers and institutions
• Direct marketing (long and short term promotion strategy
incountry) using advertising, social media, and event
management.
The British Chambers of Commerce network of accredited Chambers
oversea developed several services meant to foster UK enterprises
visibility and network such as
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ideas.
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• events and exhibitions, such as inbound visits from companies
seeking to buy or invest in the UK, • translation services and
multilingual marketing material, • Export clubs and international
networking
GERMANY The GoetheInstitute is an autonomous and politically
independent nonprofit German cultural association operational
worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad,
providing information on German culture, society and politics and
encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. Much of
the GoetheInstitute’s overall budget consists of yearly grants from
the German Foreign Office and the German Press Office. Goethe
Institute organises events such as literature concourses,
exhibitions, but also takes part into the local association
network, giving grants to support local projects aiming at
fostering democratization and human rights. The Max Weber
Foundation is a research organization financed by the public sector
which promotes research and scientific dialogue, concentrated
around the areas of social sciences, cultural studies and the
humanities in France, UK, Russia, US, Japan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Furthermore, Germany has engaged a strategy to promote the country
as a location for higher education, research and innovation in
important target countries, called “Research in Germany”, Germany
Land of Ideas” and “Invest in Germany” with the support of the
Chamber of Commerce, Germany Trade and Invest, German international
Enterprises, academic and research institutions in order to give a
positive image of Germany abroad and inboard. German Trade &
Invest also contributes to spread a positive image of German
industry and enterprise by organizing and participating to several
large scale conferences held in Germany and around the world. They
offer German enterprise the opportunity to present their activities
during showcase. Also, to promote the German industry, German Trade
and Invest recently set up a web channel, Smart News, on his web
site and on the social media, with podcasts in English.
SPAIN:
The Cervantes Institute is a worldwide nonprofit organisation
created by the Spanish Government in 1991. It is the largest
organization in the world responsible for promoting the study and
the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language and the Spanish and
Hispanic American culture in over 20 different countries with 54
offices.
“A “brand” helps to identify much more than just goods and
services; a brand is also synonymous of country identification”
says the Spanish Ministry of industry, Tourism and Commerce. With
this idea in mind, the Leading Brands of Spain was created in
collaboration with public organizations such as the Cervantes
institute, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the Spanish Tourism
Institute, the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade but also the
private sector represented by the Leading Brands of Spain
Association (AMRE) or the Spanish Exporters and Investors Club.
This initiative is aiming to promote all assets representing Spain
abroad through the diffusion of information such as Spain in Media,
Spain in sport, Spain and tourism, Spanish Brands in different
sectors embodied in a book. The publication covers the “success
stories of the leading Spanish brands, making them ideal tools to
promote the key Spanish brands internationally”. It is edited in
Spanish, English and Mandarin. Biannual Spanish Brand Ambassadors
are also named, in recognition of their ethic, innovative ideas,
good practices, or their involvement in Spanish culture promotion
in order to carry out Spanish Image abroad.
ITALY
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura is a worldwide nonprofit
organization established by the Italian Government one year after
the University of Perugia. Its purpose is the promotion of Italian
culture and Italian language teaching worldwide. It supports the
work carried out by the Italian Embassies and
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ideas.
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Consulates by organising cultural activities and events. There are
ninety Italian Cultural Institutes throughout major cities around
the world, such as Paris, London, New York, Sydney, Buenos Aires,
each Italian Cultural Institute is the Cultural Section of the
Consulate General of Italy in that city. A private society founded
in 1889, The Società Dante Alighieri, also promotes Italian culture
and language around the world.
In order to promote Italy abroad, several National missions
involving politicians, entrepreneurs, and universities, or
Confindustria have been organised in Turkey, China, India, and
Mediterranean countries over the last few years. More recently, in
July 2012, in the Ministry of foreign affairs was held a meeting to
discuss an 'International Italy” strategy which would aim at
boosting the growth of the Italian economy, by ensuring the
coordination of all activities to promote internationalization of
Italian production abroad. This meeting was attended by the
Minister for Regional Affairs, Tourism and Sport, the Minister for
Agriculture, Forestry and Food, the President of the Marche Region
representing the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces,
and for the private sector, the Presidents of Confindustria,
Unioncamere, Italian Network Enterprise and Alliance of Italian
Cooperatives and the Executive Committee member of ABI.
2.3 POLICY OPTION There is a need of public intervention
reorganisation regarding the fragmentation of actors and
initiatives which is likely to generate negative added value. Then
we need that anyone involved in the promotion is paid for,
selected, upgraded on the basis of objective and measurable
results. Then, we will need to: Select the fields on which to build
international projects based on the greater potential of the
country; Benefit from the Diaspora throughout the creation of an
Italian talent network abroad in order for
them to find in high impact projects the opportunity to “reconnect”
with Italy and to act as Ambassadors of other talents. Private
investments from the corporate and support for exchange programs
and training at the international level should be encouraged;
Improving cooperation between the Ministry of Education, the
Embassies and the Consulates, and building an international network
of researchers. As for what we put forward to increase “hard
attraction”, these measures must be preceded by the design of
marketing tools that are to become assets for anyone who wants to
promote the Italian system in the middlelong term. What projects to
bet on in order to rebuild a positive image of Italy and what image
to diffuse? What segments of foreigners do we want to involve
regarding the projects to set up and what are the factors of
aggregation? Even on such strategic issues, there is a lack of
knowledge think tanks or universities could help fill.
21 Mission of Vision is to contribute to the dissemination of
ideas.
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CONCLUSIONS Open to discussion