Talent House to attract talent

2011/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ikerketa-zentroak
• Unibertsitateak

The headquarters of external researchers opens in San Sebastian next March

On 7 March, the headquarters of Talent House, a building built for high-level researchers, with the bay of La Concha in front, opens in the San Sebastian district of Aiete. Fomento de San Sebastián has launched this initiative to make Donostia an attraction for researchers. "Talent House is part of the goal of attracting high-level researchers to research centers in Donostia," explains San Sebastian Development Manager Euken Sese.

More than a mere headquarters, Talent House will offer a comprehensive welcome to researchers. Researchers may come alone or accompanied by their partners and children. In this way, they will help couples of researchers to look for work, to introduce their children in the educational system, to register in the census of the city, or "even in matters that may be insignificant for the donostiarras, as is the case of the transport bonus", says Sese.

The research centers transferred to the City of San Sebastian the difficulty of finding sites for researchers from abroad. This need has been growing over the last decade, with a notable increase in the number of centres dedicated to R&D&i activities in Donostia. This is what Sese explains: "I remember that the first person who commented on the need to create such an initiative was Pedro Miguel Etxenike, linked to the DIPC." It was in 2000. "Then there were less than half a dozen centers in Donostia. There are now about 24 research centers and departments and many people have come here to investigate."

Initially, Talent House will have capacity for 80 researchers. There will be 80 apartments, some to live one person, others to gather entire families, etc. In general, the headquarters will be offered to researchers from outside Donostia-San Sebastian, that is, to those who, taking into account their daily displacements, would like to live in Donostia. They may be from the CAPV, also from Spain, but I believe that Talent House is primarily intended for foreign researchers," explains Sese. We have already received 30 requests from research centers," said the manager of Fomento.

On the other hand, taking advantage of the incorporation of researchers who investigate in different fields, Talent House will use to socialize knowledge. Dissemination and training actions are planned in different formats with research centers, universities, companies and other institutions and with researchers from the headquarters.