Second meeting of the Talent for Innovation Attraction Platform

On 15 June, the European Commission's Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture co-chaired the second meeting of the Talent for Innovation Attraction Platform.

Experts from EU countries working on migration, education and research, representatives from universities, national research centres, and other stakeholders exchanged on the attraction and retention of international students and researchers. The meeting also aimed to monitor the implementation by Member States of the Commission Recommendation on attracting talent for innovation.

During the meeting, Member States elaborated on how to facilitate coordination among national actors involved in the talent attraction and retention process of international students and researchers, namely national immigration authorities, universities and research organisations.

Participants also discussed how the EU and Member States can strengthen Europe's attractiveness for international students and researchers in an increasingly competitive global landscape. The participants particularly underscored the benefits of the Schengen area and intra-EU mobility opportunities, longer-term career opportunities and integration support, including for researchers' family members. The participants also noted challenges such as access to affordable housing and transferability of social security benefits.

Finally, Member States provided an overview of their recent developments in the field of talent attraction, including national practices and experiences regarding post-study and post-research opportunities. They highlighted the possibility for students and researchers to stay in the Member State for a minimum of nine months after the completion of their study and research period to look for a job or set up a business. Participants highlighted the importance of ensuring good collaboration between academia and industry, to allow for a smooth transition to the labour market for researchers.

The meeting concluded with an exchange with Member States on the state of play of transposition into national law of the revised Single Permit Directive and the recent Implementation Report of the Seasonal Workers Directive.

The next meeting of the Talent for Innovation Attraction Platform will focus on talent attraction for startups/scaleups founders and innovative entrepreneurs. It will take place by the end of 2026.

Background

In January, the Commission adopted its first-ever EU Visa Strategy, setting out a framework for a visa policy that also fosters EU prosperity and competitiveness.  

Alongside the Strategy, the Commission also adopted a Recommendation on attracting talent for innovation, to make the EU more attractive to highly skilled professionals, students, researchers and entrepreneurs. The Recommendation announced that the Commission would convene a Talent for Innovation Attraction Platform to bring together experts on migration, employment, education and innovation to ensure coordination between public authorities and stakeholders. 

The first meeting of the Platform took place in March 2026 and focused on how to best attract and retain talent for EU competitiveness, while also officially launching the Platform and its work ahead.

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