PLENARY SESSION

DEBATE

The importance of attracting and retaining talent, especially in an urban setting, was one of the main points underscored by the experts during the debate, which served as the closing act for the different speakers from the morning plenary session. Alberto Pezzi, director of Diagnosis and Foresight at the Catalan government’s Observatory of Industrial Foresight, was the moderator of the for the round table discussion in which each participant shared his/her experience in and perspectives on clusters and information systems.

KEY IDEAS

Jon Azua, ex-vice-president of the Basque government and current president of E-novating Lab.

• Attracting talent
“Attracting and retaining talent in this country is very important. This talent must be targeted and well-defined. The key to success is a double-edged sword. On one hand, public entities and promoters have to “lend a hand” to ensure the success of any initiative that meets certain requisites. On the other hand, existing resources must be emphasised and earmarked for specific activities.

• The Basque country model
“The Basque country has shown the greatest capacity for inter-institutional cooperation for major territorial projects. The different institutional levels there are obligated to share projects according to the political-administrative distribution of the Territory.”

Nick Leon, director of Design London.

• English is crucial
"English is the lingua franca of the international community. The level of knowledge and use of English must be amplified in order to achieve international success.”

• The official websites
“Local institutions also need to open themselves up to the outside through language. When you walk through the website of an institution and see that you must use Spanish or Catalan, it becomes a limitation—one that must be redirected.”

Tom Cannon, CEO of Ideopolis International and dean of Buckingham University Business School (UK).

• Barcelona universities
“Barcelona must focus on the quality of its universities in order to retain the talent that it attracts. This should be done by emphasising graduate studies, especially those dedicated to research.”

• Two types of cities
“We have identified two types of cities. In the first, the dynamics for development appear almost spontaneously, as in the case of Shanghai. In the second, these dynamics are well-though out and intelligently grown, as in the case of Auckland.”

Alfonso Vegara, director of the Metropoli Foundation and ex-president of ISOCARP.

• Excellence in cities
“The research methodology that we have used for identifying "components of excellence in the urban centres studies for the CITIES project comprises up to 100 indicators used for understanding how these cities function and are perceived, and for establishing the strategic priorities that must be defined for the future. We also used a 180 question survey, and performed various analyses of urban cartography—encompassing nineteen levels of information—as well as studies of regional and international context.”