Talent Coalition Netherlands

The EP-Nuffic, VSNU, Vereniging Hogescholen, LSVb and ISO organized an election debate on ‘Binding International Talent’ in the Hague on February 23^rd with candidates from the PvdA, CDA, VVD, D66 and Groenlinks.

During the debate, a pamphlet was presented by Michiel Kasteleijn (Business Manager IWCN) on behalf of the Talent Coalition Netherlands, a recently formed coalition of 11 regional partners who believe that attracting and retaining international talent should have a prominent position in the national political agenda. The pamphlet highlights several concrete initiatives which should contribute to attracting international talent to and inducing them to stay in the Netherlands.  The Akkoord van Groningen and the IWCN signed this pamphet on behalf of the Northern Netherlands, as did many other partners from Amsterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Twente and Eindhoven.

Attracting and retaining international talent is crucial to strengthen and expand the Dutch economy, productivity, job creation, innovation, attraction of investments and keeping Dutch businesses in the Netherlands. At the moment, there is a lack of skilled workers in the technological, educational, health care and ICT sectors of the Dutch labor market and this lack is not predicted to be filled by Dutch workers. Therefore, attracting and keeping talent from abroad is extremely important.

The Talent Coalition aims to better profile the Netherlands as the international innovative economy where the investment climate is optimal and the quality of life is excellent. Some of the proposals include developing an on online job portal so international talent are directed towards all the relevant job openings in the Netherlands, additional high-value information and services in multiple languages on international education, housing, health care and culture.

The full text of the pamphlet (in Dutch) can be read here.