Helpful pointers for navigating this uncertain future are to be found in the fourth edition of the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), which this year has the theme of "Talent and Technology".
Launched for the first time in 2013, the GTCI is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent. The report ranks 118 countries according to their ability to grow, attract and retain talent.
Switzerland, Singapore and the UK lead the way, with Nordic Countries ranking in the top 10. A success additionally confirmed in the newly launched Global Cities Talent Competitiveness Index (GCTCI), where Copenhagen, Zurich and Helsinki head the ranking and San Francisco is fourth.
The latest index shows that intense "connectedness" between governments, businesses and schools is a common trait of talent winning countries and cities, and collaboration is the keyword for their leaders.
Excellent education derives from such connectedness. "Talent champion" countries have education systems that provide the employable skills the new labor market needs. To shape today's and tomorrow's "future proof" worker, schools must teach specialized hard skills, such as the STEM skills that are in high demand. The European Commission has forecast a shortfall by 2020 of 756,000 information and communication technologies professionals and, according to the World Health Organization, we already lack 7 million healthcare workers.
But schools must also provide social and project skills that people need to develop flexibility. As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and to adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem solving and communication skills.