Nurturing entrepreneurship talent to drive greater competitiveness

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According to the 2019 “Global Talent Competitiveness Index” report, Switzerland, Singapore and the United States lead the world in talent competitiveness, while countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa are seeing a progressive erosion of their talent base.

The report confirms that talent issues have become a mainstream concern for firms, nations and cities, with talent performance seen as a critical factor to growth and prosperity.

How entrepreneurial talent is being encouraged, nurtured and developed throughout the world and how this affects the relative competitiveness of different economies are the report’s main focus.

The highest-ranking countries and cities tend to be the most open to entrepreneurial talent. Digitalisation and globalisation are increasing the role of entrepreneurial talent.

Top 25 countries

1. Switzerland
2. Singapore
3. US
4. Norway
5. Denmark
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. The Netherlands
9. United Kingdom
10. Luxembourg
11. New Zealand
12. Australia
13. Iceland
14. Germany
15. Canada
16. Ireland
17. Belgium
18. Austria
19. United Arab Emirates
20. Israel
21. France
22. Japan
23. Estonia
24. Qatar
25. Czech Republic

“In the top 10 of talent competitiveness rankings, only two non-European countries can be seen: Singapore and the US,” said Bruno Lanvin, executive director at INSEAD and co-editor of the report.

“This underlines that Europe remains a talent powerhouse, but also that countries with great universities and a strong education sector are best at attracting talent. Because high-level talent are also more mobile internationally, no comparative advantage can be seen as irreversible, and those countries will need to remain open and innovative to keep their leadership.”

Top 10 cities

1. Washington, DC (US)
2. Copenhagen (Denmark)
3. Oslo (Norway)
4. Vienna (Austria)
5. Zurich (Switzerland)
6. Boston (US)
7. Helsinki (Finland)
8. New York (US)
9. Paris (France)
10. Seoul (Korea. Rep.)...27. Hong Kong

Cities rather than countries are developing stronger roles as talent hubs and this will be crucial to reshaping the global talent scene because of their greater flexibility and ability to adapt to new trends and patterns.

The top-ranked city this year is Washington, DC, followed by Copenhagen, Oslo, Vienna and Zurich. Washington’s position can be attributed to its strong performance across four of the five pillars measured in the research, specifically in the “be global”, “attract”, “grow” and “enable” pillars.

Its steady economy, dynamic population, outstanding infrastructure and connectivity, highly skilled workforce and world-class education are all characteristics which contribute to making the city such a talent hub.

Felipe Monteiro, affiliate professor of strategy and academic director at INSEAD, and co-editor of the report, further stated: “Entrepreneurship appears to be a decisive talent to succeed; all types of organisations have to attract and enhance entrepreneurial talent, in an era where ecosystems around the globe are drastically reshaped by digital transformation.”

The 2019 GTCI report measures levels of global talent competitiveness by looking at 68 variables. The 2019 index covers 125 national economies and 114 cities (respectively 119 and 90 in 2018) across all groups of income and levels of development.