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Why Europe’s AI Talent Strategy Needs a Local Layer
September 29 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
In this Academic Research Seminar, Casey Weston will present his paper “The Talent Will Not Be Centralized: Why Europe’s AI Talent Strategy Needs a Local Layer.”
Speaker: Casey Weston, Senior Manager, Public Policy and Economic Graph at LinkedIn
Paper Abstract: Europe’s AI competitiveness debate is conducted largely at the national and EU level, yet the AI engineering talent it depends upon develops and moves locally. Using LinkedIn data on AI Engineering Talent concentration, growth, and migration across 202 European market areas, this note assesses where and how local AI talent ecosystems form across the EU, and the extent to which that clustering may align with national AI talent strategies. At the local level, we observe three methods through which cities accumulate AI talent: cultivating it through research infrastructure (e.g. Braga), attracting it through favorable national migration policy and dense employment opportunities (e.g. Munich, Barcelona), and/or retaining it against wage and tax competition from higher-cost neighbors (e.g. Brno, Wrocław). We find that the resulting AI ecosystems may or may not align with national strategic intentions: Poland’s domestic capacity-building strategy successfully generated broad-based local momentum, but France’s research strength has not translated into comparable local growth, and Czechia’s struggles to convert local demand into compounding hubs for its robust talent pipeline. We conclude that while EU and national AI infrastructure investments may be necessary for AI sovereignty, they are insufficient to realize the desired economic returns from the AI transition; converting these investments into durable economic benefit requires deliberately paired localized talent strategies.
Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance.
The Growth Lab’s Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development