MAGNET | Enhancing regional and local hubs for attraction and retention of talents and investments

Regional and local Hubs for attraction and retention of investments and talents are strategic points of contact that provide services and tools to support SMEs' competitiveness and territorial development. Services range from facilitation and incentives to value proposition and stakeholder engagement.

Many regions and cities are setting up these Hubs to support their policy implementation and integrate their strategies within national and European frameworks. Different policy instruments create and regulate Hubs' operation, which usually have a specific focus on promoting investments and attracting talent, or more generally, the mission is economic development and innovation.

MAGNET partners strongly agree that the integration and interconnection of services and tools for investment and talent attraction and retention lead to an increase in economic growth with a positive employment impact, thanks to a qualified workforce that meets the needs of strategic value chains.

The tasks of the Hubs are often carried out by small teams that need to create a widespread network of collaboration within public administrations and their stakeholder ecosystems. MAGNET aims at promoting the interregional exchange of good practices and experiences aimed at improving 7 policy instruments on four key sub-topics:

1. Organizational models of Hubs' contact points (back-front offices)
2. Stakeholder engagement to align the needs of companies in local strategic value chains with investment and talent attraction
3. Services and incentives managed and provided by the Hubs
4. Hubs' value proposition and promotional activities

The project partners, from 5 different geographical areas of the Interreg programme, have Hubs with various levels of development. The project provides knowledge and inspiration to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Hubs, addressing underlying policies and strategies, and increasing integration between attracting investments and talents and between regional and local governance levels.