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Thursday, 5 June 2008 |
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11.30 am |
Aperitifs
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12.00 pm |
Luncheon
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1.30 pm |
Opening of the Conference |
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2.00 pm |
Panel 1 |
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Brain Drain |
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The highly-skilled and the most talented are growing increasingly mobile, and many are choosing to pursue their careers elsewhere in the world: young German academics move to the UK, Ireland or the US, UK engineers head for Australia, skilled labour from East European countries move to the EU15. Many bright people study abroad and stay there. The return flow to the home countries, either from studies abroad or from temporary employment, is scanty. This can be dire for the economies of such countries, in the form of lack of innovation in some of the EU15, or skilled labour shortages in the new EU members from Eastern Europe, for instance. Some countries are, on balance, winners, as Ireland or the UK, and some are losers. But throughout Europe gaps are appearing in specific areas of its job markets, making business leaders understandably anxious as these gaps grow ever larger. What can be done to retain home-grown and immigrated talent? Are higher salaries a solution? Or a more innovative culture, open to exploring and exploiting new fields? How can the newer EU entrants, such as Poland, Hungary or Romania, win back their skilled people? Chairman
Introduction
Speakers
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5.30 pm |
End of Session
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7.30 pm |
Dinner at the Munich Residence by Invitation of Günther BECKSTEIN Keynote Address
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9.00 am |
Panel 2 |
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Brain Gain |
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Unlike the thousands of unskilled Asians and Africans who invest huge sums and even risk their lives each year to smuggle themselves into Europe in search for a better economic future, few highly skilled professionals deign to even try for a European visa: the best educated prefer Canada, Australia, the US or Singapore. Within Europe the picture is anything but homogeneous, however: while some countries like the UK and Ireland benefit from their relatively open policy regarding skilled immigrants or world-class universities, other countries, notably some Eastern European ones such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, are failing to lure back their own emigrated talent, not to mention attract fresh one from elsewhere. But gaining brains nowadays is a must: in an era of increasing globalisation, with low-wage jobs and low-cost manufacturing readily available around the globe, the role of innovation is becoming increasingly relevant in order to stay ahead. Innovation, in turn, depends primarily on the quality and quantity of brainpower available. Is the recently proposed Blue Card the solution? Can European governments harmonise their immigration policies? Chairman
Keynote Address
Introduction
Speakers
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12.30 pm |
Concluding Remarks
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1.00 pm |
Luncheon |
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2.00 pm |
End of Conference |
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