Joint Statement on 'The Importance of European and national policies to attract non-European STEM-talent to Europe'

With the statement, the European Science and Innovation Policy Councils want to highlight the importance of joining complementary strategies together to collectively attract STEM-talent from outside Europe. VARIO, together with AWTI (Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, the Netherlands), took the initiative for this joint statement. It fits in with a shortage of skilled labor in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Europe is already experiencing. If we want to reach all of Europe’s goals, for example, those concerning the triple transition to a green and digital economy and society, then we will need a lot more people with those specific areas of skills. In the statement, we emphasise that attracting STEM talent to Europe also has benefits for Least Developed Countries, when that talent returns to their own countries after some time.

Currently eight organisations, from the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, and Belgium, signed the statement. The statement will be circulated to the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and other relevant bodies.