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Executive Summary
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June 2005 Global Talent Pool ConferenceExecutive SummaryBy Dr. Denis Simon, Provost & VP for Academic Affairs As we move ahead deeper into the 21st century, the effects of globalization continue to be ubiquitous. The dynamics of global economic and technological development are producing dramatic, indeed, revolutionary changes in the cross border movement of talent, capital, innovation, and intellectual property. Amidst this pronounced re-structuring of the global workplace, prevailing assumptions about the nature of international competition and the process of economic development are undergoing a fundamental re-thinking in many quarters. While the exact shape and configuration of the new global economic order and technology system remain unclear, it is clear that the role of high end scientific, engineering, and managerial talent- the supply and demand as well as quality-will be a pivotal issue for both public and private sector actors. In this new, highly fluid and sometimes turbulent period in world history, competition will revolve around the ability to access, manage and coordinate specialized trans-border knowledge networks structured around both research & development and educational systems. Under such circumstances, countries seeking to promote their own economic development or maintain and enhance their competitive positioning, must have in place a high-end human talent pool that will be their "ticket" to participate in the types of innovation-related activities required for success by the steadily demanding conditions of the global economy. Countries such as India and China already have made substantial progress in this regard and have achieved a much higher level of integration into the mainstream of global economic and technology affairs. Accordingly, educators, policymakers, and business leaders need to be fully engaged in understanding this increasingly complex global environment, an environment that necessarily will have a direct and ever-present impact on individual lives and on the standard of living in nations around the world. The issues surrounding the global talent pool are multifaceted. The exchanges at the conference seemed to focus on five issues: First, there are the supply-side dimensions, which revolve around the degree to which governments have been able to put in place effective and efficient systems of higher education to prepare sufficient numbers of qualified individuals to handle the ever more demanding job requirements of the knowledge economy. To illustrate the rapidity of the changes occurring, one just has to look at the U.S. versus the Indian and Chinese education systems. While U.S. universities graduated 60,000+ engineers in 2004, China and India together graduated five times as many. Moreover, the quality differences in higher education that were seemingly unassailable 20 years ago are steadily disappearing as the investments made by the Indian and Chinese governments have started to pay off in terms of faculty, facilities, and curriculum. Of course, the simple availability of talent does not ensure its effective utilization. Nor does it ensure that the structure and composition of the talent pool are well matched to the evolving needs of the economy. This is true for domestic enterprises and government organizations as well as for foreign companies seeking to harness the new "pools" of skilled talent available around the globe. As many of the conference participants noted, while concerns continue to be expressed about talent shortages, one burning question is why there is such poor utilization of existing talent. Is enough being done to nurture existing talented individuals, and have employers found the right combination of material and affective rewards to motivate people to take on challenging assignments? This is an especially relevant question as the imperatives of competition and growth combine to place increased pressures on corporate leaders to produce more in the way of new, innovative products and services. The second issue receiving critical attention at the conference dealt with the demand side of the global talent question. Companies such as Microsoft, CISCO, IBM, and Siemens- to name just a few- increasingly see the world as a series of differentiated talent pools; to service global markets as well as local ones, it has become necessary to have almost on-demand access to these hubs of talented individuals. Corporate patterns of innovation are indeed changing as evidenced by the fact that more overseas R & D is taking place by U.S., European, and Japanese firms, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The consequences are potentially far-reaching, and as one participant suggested, we may be witnessing the end of "national systems of innovation" and a move towards globally integrated systems of innovation. With competition for talent intensifying on a global scale and traditional models of technology creation and commercialization undergoing a significant transformation, the role of government in the talent arena formed a third focal point of discussion. Some nations have decidedly attempted to develop a national strategy- based on the belief that domestic governments are not yet ready to cede over their domains to the demands of global markets and corporations. China, for example, has instituted major reforms to open up its science and technology system and enhance it own innovation potential. Toward that end, it also is attempting to liberalize its human resource systems to attract more talent, including those who have been trained abroad but remain reluctant to return home. The countries of the European Union, under the umbrella of the Lisbon Agenda, are pushing for a revitalization of R & D, with the hope that some of the scientists and engineers who may seek to migrate to the U.S. might have their minds changed as a result of the new, innovative environment being created across the continent. Yet, in other cases, such as the U.S., even as innovation and competitiveness have been propelled to the top of the national agenda, the potential for creation of a formal strategy seems to be limited due to a combination of structural and ideological factors. This does not lessen the challenge for the U.S., which must enhance its capacity to absorb knowledge created elsewhere, do a better job encouraging entrepreneurship, and improve the management of visas and immigration-related processes so that foreign students as well as experienced foreign trained talent can more smoothly and efficiently enter the U.S. and thus fortify the ranks of the American talent pool in science and engineering. While it is hard to identify concrete data to confirm that there is a real shortage of qualified high-end talent in the U.S., there are real, data-driven concerns about whether sufficient numbers of women and minorities are willing to pursue future careers in the sciences and engineering. |
