International openness and the circulation of people and talent during key stages of professional training and development were the central topics of discussion at this Third Conference on “Italian leaders abroad”.
The focus of the Conference was thus on developing training courses aimed at improving the global skills base of young Italians and bolstering their awareness of key national cultural traits (that is, fostering an understanding of what “being Italian” whilst also being European entails), and the establishment of career paths – by Italian firms and public institutions alike – which encourage and draw on overseas work experience.
Three main points were addressed over the two working sessions of the Conference. The first of these points concerned the phenomenon of Italians abroad, and examined the reasons that motivate Italians to go abroad and the value generated by the time they spend overseas and the activities undertaken by them. It was noted that the emigration pattern of recent years has been increasingly driven by the desire to round off one’s education and training. Once overseas, Italians – especially those who are leading figures in their field – act as, and must increasingly serve as, a resource for Italy. Indeed, they are both an opinion-shaping and pressure group: on the one hand, in many instances they shape overseas perceptions of Italy, and on the other, they can bring pressure to bear on Italian public policies, particularly those favoring increased openness and the modernization of socio-economic structures. The participants stressed that it is accordingly imperative that mechanisms be put in place which facilitate their interaction with Italy. Currently, the balance of this relationship is skewed: the decision to study or work abroad is in fact often determined by Italy’s prevailing systemic limitations, the very constraints which make it difficult to return to Italy and apply the benefits of experience gained abroad, and which reduce the ability to attract foreign talent to Italy. The discussions examined the shortcomings of the Italian education system (which in many cases result in an eagerness to go abroad already setting in by the time higher secondary education is completed), labor-market rigidities, innovation lags, quality-of-life factors (with Italy’s major cities often failing to provide adequate service and environmental quality levels), and the key issue of the predominance of familistic mechanisms over individual merit (with Italy’s political and academic “cartels” cited as a case in point).
This then led on to discussion of the second point, namely, that dealing with circulation of talent. It was argued that, rather than focusing on ensuring the definitive return of Italian-born high-achievers to Italy, it is essential that a dynamic system allowing for “brain circulation” be established, which both attracts foreign talent to Italy (as is well-known, the net talent flow stands heavily to Italy’s detriment) and puts Italians abroad in touch with each other and with “decision-makers” – be they politicians, intellectuals, or entrepreneurs – in Italy. This was recognized by the participants as constituting the nub of the matter: the elimination of the competitive disadvantage that Italy suffers compared to other countries is the key to attracting not only Italian star-performers who have honed their skills abroad but also foreign talent. Above all, overcoming this obstacle would decisively demonstrate that the Italian system has become more modern, more open and, crucially, more competitive.
The third point of discussion related to possible effective solutions. First and foremost among these were proposals aimed at opening up and internationalizing education systems and training processes at every level, including through: the encouragement of foreign language studies; the introduction of periods of study abroad, which could be made conditional – in order to be eligible for public funding – on returning to Italy for specified periods of time; and measures geared towards improving and evaluating the efficacy of schools and universities, which – along with research – also require appropriate levels of public and private investment. It was felt that gaining overseas experience needs to become a career-enhancing move, in line with the model adopted by many private companies, particularly multinationals. Universities and academics should be encouraged to promote openness and the circulation of talent, with courses conducted exclusively in English and the institution of a “shared chair” system (with individual courses assigned to foreign university professors). It was suggested that Italian universities should also fall in line with the increasingly widespread practice of setting up international campuses of excellence, both by encouraging the opening up of campuses of foreign universities in Italy, and by opening up Italian university campuses abroad.
In conclusion, the participants agreed on the need to decide on the future focus of the “Italian leaders abroad” group. Having highlighted the crucial importance of establishing networks which facilitate ongoing contact and relationships between Italians abroad, and measures that encourage the circulation of talent (with the participants pointing to the example of a bipartisan initiative which has resulted in a law being recently passed by the Italian Parliament, and which introduces tax benefits for Italian graduates returning to work in Italy), attention was turned to focus on the development of the Aspen Institute Italia project that has given rise to this series of Conferences. It was agreed in this regard that, after having gained a thorough understanding of the phenomenon in the first three of the group’s Conferences, it was now appropriate for the project to be taken to a further level, moving on from analysis and the sharing of experiences to look at the kind of operational mechanisms that could be adopted to forge links between leading Italians abroad.
