Immigrants in the Innovation Economy – Lessons from Austria, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands

This report reviews good practices in linking international talent into the innovation economy and covers four benchmark countries: Austria, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands. The identified good practices are often characterised by governance models that have been developed based on the stakeholder and market needs. Often, the good practices have originated from a bottom-up approach and are carried forward by multiple stakeholders. While piloting activities is a good approach for a quick testing, successful approaches need a long-term funding base to be able to focus on content.
Based on the findings of the review, we suggest to firmly integrate international talent into the Finnish innovation economy by: 1) Ensuring an enduring shared vision on international talent attraction and long-term design of actions; 2) Creating a commonly adopted strategic intent for international talent; and 3) Designing and implementing new actions for integrating international talent systemically and with continuity.
Matching these three steps with three previously identified challenges, the report presents nine recommendations for action that implement the steps and address current challenges for integration of international talent.