INSEAD, the Business School for the World, and the Federation for Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) today announced the results of a report entitled ‘Who cares, who dares: providing the skills for an innovative and a sustainable Europe’, at the 7th edition of the European Business Summit (EBS). The report, sponsored by Microsoft and Shell, focuses on the skills that Europe needs the most in this time of crisis. It argues for the creation of a “European Skills Pact” between Europe’s educators, employers, investors, policy makers and citizens.
The purpose of the FEB-INSEAD report "Who Cares? Who Dares?" is two-fold. To call the attention of Europe’s government and business leaders to the vital importance of strengthening Europe's skills on the one hand and to recommend a set of practical actions, organized around the theme of a ‘European Skills Pact’ (ESP) on the other.
The European Skills Pact calls for six priority actions that should be taken immediately to improve the skills on the continent:
- Launch a Europe-wide public-private alliance to ensure the re-skilling of excess labour in times of crisis
- Re-focus the European Structural Funds earmarked for training and re-training in 2007-2013 towards the sectors most likely to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness in post-crisis times.
- Identify and scale-up successful public-private initiatives and partnership (such as JetNet), aiming at stimulating young people’s interest for mathematics, science and careers in engineering, information and communications technologies and protection of the environment.
- Enhance and develop high-level business-universities partnerships to generate the ‘Global Knowledge Economy’ skills which Europe needs to realize the benefits of its Lisbon strategy and be a leader in innovation.
- Encourage skills mobility within Europe, as well as between Europe and other parts of the world.
- Foster innovative approaches to education, including through e-learning and distance learning, competition and innovation.
“Europe’s skills issue is not one of quality of people nor of quantity of graduates and trained individuals, but rather one of matching between what education systems produce and what industry and society need”, said Frank Brown, the Dean of INSEAD.
The findings presented in the report by INSEAD and FEB will not go unnoticed. At the European Business Summit they form the key thread running throughout the debate. The fact that they will be discussed in the presence of 12 European Commissioners, The Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso, the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul and hundreds of attendees guarantees that the recommendations made in this report will have an impact.
“The crisis makes it seem like there is a surplus of workers, economically speaking. Businesses today can barely keep their people on board in these tough times. However, we must remain alert. The demographic reality is that our labour market will soon be pushed implacably into a situation of structural scarcity. Moreover, the skills required for the jobs of the future growth markets, like the cleantech industry for instance, will only make the situation more critical. If we want to prevent an impoverished European labour market from undermining economic growth, then we must take action now.” explained Rudi Thomaes, CEO of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium.
“Without prompt and significant action to generate the required skills, much of Europe’s stimulus packages and past investment could be wasted. Europe must hold on to its ambitions. It should maintain and develop its human resources and its capacities now, to emerge from the crisis ‘ahead of the pack”, concluded Bruno Lanvin, main author of the report and Executive Director of eLab at INSEAD.
