On behalf of Region Jämtland Härjedalen (Sweden), Future Place Leadership conducted an international target market analysis to identify and prioritise the most relevant international markets for the region’s future talent needs. The aim was to provide a strategic knowledge base for employers, public actors and other organisations working with long-term talent attraction and workforce development.

From skills shortages to priority markets

The project started with an analysis of occupations that are particularly difficult to recruit nationally. Three key competence areas were prioritised for deeper analysis: digital talent, vocational technical talent, and professionals within health and care services.

To identify relevant target markets, we conducted an extensive desk-based analysis combining multiple international datasets and analytical perspectives. The analysis focused on factors such as the size of relevant talent pools, labour market conditions, international mobility patterns and practical feasibility for international recruitment.

As a key methodological step, Future Place Leadership developed a market evaluation matrix in which potential target markets were assessed and compared using a range of criteria related to talent availability, education capacity, mobility and recruitment feasibility. By systematically weighing these factors, it was possible to prioritise the markets with the greatest strategic potential for the region’s employers.

The result was a clear prioritisation of international markets where the likelihood of reaching relevant talent is highest.

Understanding motivations, lifestyle preferences and relocation decisions

Identifying where talent exists is only one part of successful international talent attraction. Equally important is understanding what motivates people to relocate and what they look for in a place to live and work.

To complement the market analysis, we conducted a quantitative survey targeting professionals within the prioritised competence groups in the identified markets. The survey provided deeper insights into:

• motivations and drivers for international relocation
• lifestyle preferences and expectations related to work and place
• what information potential movers look for when considering relocation
• the types of support that are most important when moving to another country
• which channels and platforms people use to explore job opportunities abroad

The quantitative analysis also made it possible to identify target markets where there is a strong lifestyle match between the preferences of the talent groups and what Region Jämtland Härjedalen can offer – such as access to nature, work–life balance and opportunities for an active lifestyle.

These insights are critical for developing relevant messaging and positioning a region in a way that resonates with international talent.

By combining insights about where talent exists with an understanding of what motivates them, the project created a more comprehensive picture of how the region can reach and attract the right audiences.

A strategic and practical decision-making tool

The results were compiled into a strategic and practical framework to support the region’s continued work with international talent attraction.

The final analysis includes:

• prioritised international target markets
• insights into motivations and preferences among different talent groups
• identified lifestyle matches between target groups and the region
• recommendations on messaging and positioning
• guidance on the most effective channels for reaching different talent groups in different countries

By combining multiple data sources, analytical methods and target group insights, the project provides a robust foundation that enables regional actors and employers to work more strategically, effectively and resource-efficiently with international recruitment.

Want to know where your region should start?

Many regions and municipalities recognise that attracting international talent will be essential for future workforce development. However, many lack a clear evidence-based understanding of which markets to focus on and how to approach them.

Future Place Leadership helps regions, cities and organisations identify the right target markets, understand the motivations of international talent and develop data-driven strategies for attracting the skills they need.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help you identify the most relevant tarket markets that can offer talents matching you skills need and lifestyle preferences. 

The post Region Jämtland Härjedalen – Identifying the right international talent markets first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

How do you become a world leading Investment Promotion Agency in 2025? This is the question we asked some of the most renowned city and regional investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in the world in collaboration with Copenhagen Capacity and European Talent Mobility Forum. Based on initial research by Future Place Leadership, we aligned trends we saw in the market, with expert insights directly from the industry including these seven organizations: Berlin Partner, Brainport Development, Copenhagen Capacity, Helsinki Business Hub, Invest Stockholm, Montreal International, and Tel Aviv Global.

The challenge

Copenhagen Capacity is an award winning economic development agency and by many industry peers considered to be Champions League. Yet to win such a tournament each year (to use the soccer analogy), one can not rest on its laurels. Hence the organisation is always keen to understand, what is happening in the world related to the business of attracting investors, that one should adopt its strategy to, or completely change direction to accommodate. The challenge of this assignment was exactly that: Understanding the future market and providing recommendations on how to adapt strategically and operationally already now.

We identified 4 key questions as guiding principles for the research and interviews:

1. What would it take to be the best Investment Promotion Agency by 2025?
2. What do you need to do in the next five years to maintain a leading position?
3. What are the respective roles of FDI, talent attraction, and placemaking? And how do they all work together?
4. What trends really matter to our industry?

The solution

This white paper introduces eight recommendations for the future of investment promotion. Some relate to a changing world and economies, with technologies and the environmental crisis deeply affecting our ways of living, consuming, working, and producing. In reaction or to  accommodate these trends, the role of Investment promotion agencies has also started to change. Instead of being the “salespeople” of their cities, regions, or nations, they are working strategically with public and private actors to facilitate the local economic ecosystems. This require specific knowledge on the priority industries, but also knowledge of actors to connect them.

The result  

The eight recommendations are:

1. Talents are your biggest asset
2. Be a digital infrastructure leader
3. Soft landing matters to investors
4. This is an emotional business
5. IPAs’ skill-sets will change
6. A clear and distinct value proposition
7. Sustainability moves to the forefront
8. Diversify the investment mix

Download the report for free here!

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The competition for investments, talent, visitors and public resources is no doubt intensifying between places – and the winners have been the capitals and other urban centres. This is the backdrop against which the Norwegian region Vestfold & Telemark decided to launch their Regional Development project “Working smarter together”. The process focuses on innovating how different regional stakeholders can out-smart the competition with better collaboration in the future – and secure growth and opportunities for both its current and future residents and companies.

The challenge

Smart collaboration, innovation, commitment and creativity are the desired key words in the work to strengthen the attractiveness of Vestfold & Telemark when it comes to green transition, development and growth and to attract investment, tourists and talent. The client asked us to develop a methodology to use in betterment of collaboration between the municipality and the wider range of different actors in the ecosystem.

The solution

Adapting Design Thinking into the core of the collaboration between different stakeholders. The aim is for actors in the region to be able to use a baseline framework for different processes with a concrete toolbox to develop prototypes for future development work where several municipalities or actors work together. All of this is part of the same goal: To work smarter together.

The result  

“Work smarter together” offers a common language for development work and a solid set of methods to rely on, a toolbox.

This framework for economic development through a Design Thinking approach has its core in investigating what the underlying problems are, explore different solutions and continuously test proposed solutions on target groups or the end user. Thus, both the problem and the solution change when new insights are gained. We call the process we have developed for Working Smarter Together the Triple Diamond, because it functions as a framework with three subsequent phases:

1. Understand: an exploratory start to ensure a correct understanding of the user’s needs or challenge.
2. Create: With an understanding of the actual need or challenge, we can “brainstorm” and find ways to solve the challenge.
3. Deliver: With one or more proposed solutions, we have developed prototypes to be tested, improved and finally launched

Any questions, or something we can help you with? Get in touch!

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Future Place Leadership was hired by Invest in Skåne, the regional investment promotion agency of Region Skåne, Sweden, to help the 12 municipalities of the Malmö-Lund region to develop a model for regional cooperation, as well as help the municipalities and the region develop their value propositions to investors.

The Malmö-Lund region is one of the main economic hotspots of Sweden, and an important contributor to the economic success of the Greater Copenhagen region. 

We helped Invest in Skåne and the municipalities to develop their skills in investment promotion, and to develop a well-packaged value proposition for each municipality as well as for the region as a whole. Last but not least, we helped the region develop a regional cooperation model for investment promotion, including jointly agreed processes and policies for both reactive and proactive promotion.   

The challenge

True regional cooperation in investment promotion between the municipalities at core of the region – the Malmö-Lund region – has been lacking. Many of the municipalities also lacked a comprehensively described and well-packaged value proposition targeting the desired investor segments.

The solution

We helped Invest in Skåne and the municipalities to tackle the challenge by:

1. Improving their skills in investment promotion, through training and coaching
2. Helping them to develop a well-packaged value proposition for each municipality as well as for the region as a whole, through coaching and pitching training  
3. Facilitating the development of regional cooperation model for investment promotion, including jointly agreed processes and policies for both reactive and proactive promotion.    

The result 

The client testifies that all the municipalities have reached a higher level of maturity when it comes to investment promotion activities – and that the municipalities have developed a higher degree of trust between each other which facilitates exchange of information, sharing of leads and dialogue on new opportunities. All the municipalities as well as the region as a whole also have updated value propositions and acquired learnings on how to create and update the value promotions in the future. Finally, the region now has a cooperation model for both proactive and reactive investment promotion.    

Any questions, or something we can help you with? Get in touch!

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For example, arranging a process with business clusters to identify areas where the region can develop oneself in a particular area (smart specialization). Working with multiple stakeholders is key when making the value proposition of your place more effective and more clear.

The challenge still remains of course to make full use of the methods. It is a cross-sectorial and multi-organisational change management challenge. Things take time. But the vector is looking good!

Any questions, or something we can help you with? Get in touch!

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The post Telemark, Norway – Business Attraction Management Strategy first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

Ever since we started working together with Berlin, things have moved fast and smooth. The Talent Services Department of Berlin Partner, the economic development agency of the Berlin region, participated in our Talent Attraction Management for European Cities, Regions and Countries training programme in 2016. Since then we have worked on multiple projects together, not the least the European Talent Mobility Forum cluster.

We have also been to Berlin to give inspiration talks on place branding and talent attraction, in order to help Berlin mobilise stakeholders and refine their work further.

We co-organised our flagship training programme, ‘Talent Attraction Management for European Cities, Regions and Countries’, with Berlin Partner in May 2017 in Berlin. Subsequently, we’ve had the great pleasure and honour of being selected by Berlin Partner to help lead a strategy review process of Berlin Brain City in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

We have facilitated a series of workshops throughout the years with key stakeholders, and have done surveys to both evaluate existing campaign strategies as well as repurpose and reorient the future brand platform.

One of the projects we did – in close dialogue with the Berlin Partner team and the stakeholder institutions – was a new strategic concept, along with activities such as repurposing the current Brain City Berlin ambassador network to a kind of  ‘Scientists of Berlin’ network and launching a social media takeover programme to showcase what it is like to work for one of the partner science institutions.

Berlin Partner is a shining example of a well-coordinated and long-term pursuit of managing a place to make it more attractive and more visible to target groups. We have therefore invited them as speakers at several of our conferences, for example the Nordic Place Branding Conference, to share inspiration about the innovative work they do.

Berlin is always beta, as they say – always testing and trying out new things, which is very much in line with how we strive to work.

Any questions, or something we can help you with? Get in touch!

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Find the handbook and download it for free here: Business Attraction Management in Nordic Cities and Regions (BAM)

The project was a Nordic development project focusing on the next generation business attraction and investment promotion practices. The collaboration project aimed at identifying and developing new tools and strategies for investment promotion. The new tools and strategies were co-created with the project’s more than 60 participants, representing 22 organisations from six countries in the Nordics and Baltics. The project eventually laid a foundation on our Business Attraction Management model, which can be used as a guideline for building a BAM strategy pretty much everywhere.

What is Business Attraction Management?

BAM is a holistic approach to strategies, processes and activities aiming at attracting and making full use of inward investment activity. It is based on the unique, localised competencies, resources and networks of the place –  the ecosystem of business activity. A total of 15 case studies were performed, focusing on, for example, how to attract venture capital, start-ups and entrepreneurial talent, how to attract different types of business such as data centres, logistics and ICT businesses, how to build ambassador networks that help attract new businesses and how to use you challenges as a place as a basis for business attraction.

The operating model of the project itself was designed to ensure a process that creates outputs that meet the demands of the participating city, regional and investment promotion organisations.

The outcome of the project

The project resulted in the “Handbook on Business Attraction Management for Cities and Regions”, which presents new strategies, tools and activities for successful business attraction (published in February 2016).

The project activities included:

1. 15 case studies of best practices in business attraction and investment promotion (7 comprehensive cases and 8 “mini cases”)
2. One internal survey with all project partners with a view to understand needs and fine tune project aims.
3. One external survey with national and regional IPAs in Northern Europe.
4. Three separate two-day work meetings gathering between 55 and 70 participants each in different Nordic locations, with group discussions, presentations and co-creation workshopsthat fed into the process of creating the final outputs.
5. Individual meetings and teleconferences with all participants in order to understand their current work mode and future needs and adapting and testing the final outputs of the project to these needs.
6. Four training sessions, in four different Nordic countries on how to use the handbook and its main tools and strategies, to which all the project partners could invite their main regional stakeholders in investment attraction.

The 60 participants of the project represented 22 cities or regional partnerships in six countries:

• BusinessOulu, Finland
• LADEC, Lahti Region Development, Finland
• Cursor, Kotka-Hamina region, Finland
• Kouvola Innovation, Finland
• Imatra Region, Finland
• Silkeborg municipality, Denmark
• ’Triangle Region’ (Trekantområdet), Denmark
• Buskerud Country Authority, Norway
• Kongsberg Region, Norway
• Invest in Telemark, Norway
• Olofström Municipality/Netport Science Park, Sweden
• Falun-Borlänge Region, Sweden
• City of Halmstad, Sweden
• Laholm Municipality, Sweden
• Kalmar Region/Kalmar Science Park, Sweden
• East Sweden Business Region, Sweden
• City of Umeå, Sweden
• City of Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
• Business Region Örebro, Sweden
• Uppsala Region, Sweden
• Invest Lithuania/Lithuanian regions
• Enterprise Estonia/Estonian regions

Any questions, or something we can help you with? Get in touch!

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Find our free handbooks & white papers on Business Attraction at our handbook library!

The post Business Attraction Management in Nordic Cities and Regions first appeared on Future Place Leadership.

We analysed Gothenburg’s situation – interviewing nearly 50 stakeholders, surveying 500 people, numerous focus groups and workshops. Then we prepared a talent attraction management strategy and action plan. This required close co-operation with the stakeholders, anchoring the proposed ways forward.

See MoveToGothenburg.com, a concrete result of the project. It is a marketing portal with information about moving to, living and working in the region.

Any questions, or something we can help you with? Get in touch!

More on the topic

Find our free handbooks & white papers on Talent Attraction at our handbook library!

The post Greater Gothenburg Region, Sweden – Talent Attraction Management Strategy first appeared on Future Place Leadership.