Services to attract and support high-skilled talents and their families by local authorities

By project TALENT4S3

Published on 22 May 2025

Italy

Emilia-Romagna

About this good practice

The Emilia-Romagna Region launched a pilot program (Deliberation No. 1242/2023) to implement Regional Law No. 2/2023 on the attraction, retention and valorization of talents addressing the strategic goal of attracting and retaining highly skilled talent. The initiative aims to strengthen the region’s global competitiveness by fostering a more international, innovative, and inclusive ecosystem.
The program funds local-level projects across Emilia-Romagna, from Piacenza to Rimini, ensuring widespread access to services for international professionals and their families. This regional capillarity is closely aligned with the locations of universities, Tecnopoli, High Technology Network labs, and open labs, reinforcing synergies between local administrations and the innovation ecosystem.
Targeting 2023–2025 (2024–2025 for Bologna), each municipality can develop tailored services aligned with the Regional Smart Specialization Strategy (S3), such as welcome desks for international talent, multilingual orientation, career and networking support, digital information platforms, and community integration activities. Key stakeholders include local governments, innovation hubs, universities, research centers, and businesses. Beneficiaries are highly specialized talents, both Italian and international, who contribute to research, innovation, and regional development.

Resources needed

A total budget of €2,232,176.90 has been approved for the 2023–2025 period, with a maximum grantable contribution of 80%, equal to €1,785,741.52. More details, including the breakdown by local authority, are available in Regional Government Deliberation No. 1242 of July 17, 2023

Evidence of success

This practice is considered successful as it led to the approval of 10 pilot projects across Emilia-Romagna’s major cities, fostering local initiatives to attract and support highly skilled talent. By February 2024, a total of 33 types of services had been implemented (amounting to 68 services delivered overall), reaching 574 organizations and 7,063 talents, for e.g.: multilingual orientation, housing and school support, digital information platforms, and community integration activities.

Potential for learning or transfer

This practice is valuable for other regions seeking to attract and retain high-skilled talent by integrating tailored local services into broader economic and innovation policies. Key success factors include strong institutional coordination, alignment with regional smart specialization strategies (S3), and engagement with local governments, universities, and businesses.
Regions with a strong innovation ecosystem can adapt this model by funding local-level talent attraction projects and fostering public-private collaboration. However, challenges include securing long-term funding and ensuring alignment with local labor market needs.