Finland’s talent competitiveness ranks highly

Altogether the index evaluated 132 countries and 155 cities with a particular focus on digital skills “in an age of AI”. Finland was placed seventh overall, dropping one spot from last year’s ranking, whereas Helsinki tumbled to 31st among global cities.

This year, Finland was ranked fourth in the category of vocational and technical skills and is one of the leading countries in matching the skills of people with the needs of the economy (third in employability). Finland also ranked highly in retaining talent (eighth), which was attributed to having a high degree of sustainability (seventh).

The country was also fourth in the ‘grow’ category, which contained high placements for sub indices such as formal education (third), lifelong learning (sixth) and access to growth opportunities (seventh).

A digital future for all

On a global scale, a deepening gap was found between high income and low income countries. The ranking was led by Switzerland, the USA and Singapore. Yemen, Congo and Angola were at the other end of the scale.

According to Alain Dehaze, CEO of Adecco Group, the impact of the rise of machines and algorithms is being felt across all industries, placing an urgent emphasis on creating measures to attract, develop and retain talent.

“This decade will be characterised by a re-skilling revolution with a focus on ‘fusion skills’ – enabling humans and machines to work in harmony in a hybrid model,” he envisioned.

Finland recently facilitated this on a broader scale, offering European citizens access to a free online course series, the Elements of AI. The initiative aims to encourage people to learn the basics of artificial intelligence, regardless of age or education level.