Salzburg/Gütersloh, 30 August 2013. Although Europe is the unwilling pioneer of managed demographic decline, it has to assume a leadership role in developing strategies to close emerging gaps in global labor markets.
Senior policymakers, business leaders and civil society representatives from 11 countries came to this conclusion. They met on Friday, August 29 as part of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Salzburg Trialogue in the Austrian state capital. Liz Mohn, Vice-Chair of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, and former Chancellor of Austria Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel convened the high-level group.
Among the participants were Dr. Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy, the Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman of the FutureWorld Foundation Seán Cleary, Prof. Dr. Dennis Snower, President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Strube, Honorary Chairman of BASF's Supervisory Board, Cardinal Dr. Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Aart De Geus, chairman and CEO Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Chief Executive Officer of UFA Fiction Prof. Nico Hofmann.
At the opening of the Trialogue Liz Mohn stated: "Europeans are very aware of the global race for talent. We need principles in order to compete fairly." Furthermore, the public and private sector must work together more closely in order to appropriately employ the skills people have and to grow talent, according to Liz Mohn.
Former Chancellor of Austria Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel chaired the meeting at which participants intensively discussed the global race for talent. Human capital is one of the world's most precious resources. The participants issued the following recommendations addressed at policymakers in Europe as a result of their deliberations.
Since 50 percent of human capital is female, to accelerate the full utilization of female talent globally through investments in initiatives that enable all workers to integrate work and parental responsibilities.
To consider founding a "talent coalition" for German-speaking countries. As Austria, Germany and Switzerland are at the forefront of talent gaps and aging societies, these countries could be among the first to develop a joint talent strategy along linguistic and economic commonalities. Sharing experiences on good practices could make a strong base for a "fair deal on talent".
operating foundation in accordance with Section 1 of North Rhine-Westphalia's Foundation Law.
The district government of Detmold serves as its supervisory authority.