FAQ

bizkaia:talent is a non-profit organisation sponsored by the Department for Economic Development of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia/Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia (D.F.B./B.F.A.), with the cooperation of some of the leading companies, universities and research and technology centres in the Basque Country. It is aimed at facilitating and encouraging the conditions of the recruitment, engagement and retention of highly qualified people in knowledge and innovation processes in Bizkaia.

bizkaia:talent has several partners: Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa (BBK), BEAZ, CIC bioGUNE, Iberdrola, Idom, IK4, Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP), Sener, Tecnalia, University of Deusto, University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, to whose Department for Economic Development it belongs.

bizkaia:talent’s efforts are focused on people. This means working together with all the actors involved in business development and innovation in the identification and support of innovative projects and persons.

The changes that are about to take place in the fields of education and research at the European level, coupled with those that have already occurred and those envisaged in business (traditional sectors in Bizkaia with a medium-high to high level of knowledge and technology: automotive industry, electronic materials, metal mechanics, transport and logistics; emerging sectors in Bizkaia: biotechnology, aerospace industry, biomedicine, pharmaceutical industry and health sector, alternative energies, environment), call for the establishment of an organisation to lay the foundations to fight the danger of intellectual undercapitalisation faced by many countries in the region.

Within an increasingly globalised competitive framework in terms of both social and economic aspects, it has become necessary to work together with other government agencies in the Department for Economic Development and Innovation (DIPE) of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, with Basque and European public institutions, and with other actors. Cooperation is key, for the success of an individual actor or organisation depends on the success of others.

Thus, cooperation is the key to success, and one of the tools to face one of Bizkaia’s main challenges: the creation of wealth and stable jobs.

All the services and programmes offered by bizkaia:talent are free, except for special activities like networking with professionals outside the Basque Country (in which organisations must pay for travel and accommodation expenses) or recreational activities for social integration (museums, tours, and so on).

bizkaia:talent caters to companies’ needs for highly qualified staff for free, offering comprehensive services to Bizkaia-based organisations (making it easier for talent to come and stay in Bizkaia or the Basque Country, depending on the service, engaged in innovative fields and with innovative organisations).

bizkaia:talent adds value to professional spheres and organisation in the Basque Country by identifying, recruiting and retaining highly qualified professionals.

• Financing of talent hiring, engagement and promotion activities.
• Search for highly qualified profiles worldwide.
• Integration of talented professionals into social, cultural and work environments.
• Basic administrative procedures for foreign professionals (and their families) coming to work for Basque organisations.
• Contact between highly qualified professionals and local companies, and promotion of cooperation networks.
• Familiarisation of university students with the scientific, technological and business reality of Bizkaia and the Basque Country at large.
• Availability of research studies in talent mobility.
• Identification of international projects to support and strengthen innovation and competitiveness in Bizkaia and the Basque Country.
• International network of individuals and organisations made available to Basque organisations.
• Presence and/or representation in conferences, forums and trade shows on talent management and mobility.

To take advantage of bizkaia:talent’s comprehensive services, organisations must be headquartered or have a production facility or service centre in Bizkaia, or develop projects or be professionally active in this Historical Territory.

Some services are also available to organisations based in other Historical Territories in the Basque Country.

The procedure is fast, easy and free. If you are interested in bizkaia:talent’s services, you can ask for them. You just have to be a registered user of our website.

For questions or help, you can contact us by email at informacion@bizkaiatalent.org or calling (+34) 944 795 428.

The registration information is name of organisation, TIN, type of organisation, sector, address and phone, plus the contact details of a person in the organisation.

If all the information is correct, we will activate your bizkaia:talent account. Then you will be free to request any of the services available.

bizkaia:talent complies with Organic Law 15/1999 of 13 December, on Personal Data Protection, in data management. All the personal information entered on our website (the main communication channel between bizkaia:talent and applicants) will be stored in the organisation’s database, which is duly registered with the Personal Data Protection General Registry under the security measures established in Royal Decree 994/1999, of 11 June.
Several departments in my organisation could be interested in the services offered by bizkaia talent. Can we create several users?

Yes, you can. Each organisation can have as many user profiles as necessary. To create a new user in your bizkaia:talent account, you must go to ‘Organisation registration’. When you enter your TIN, the system will identify it as belonging to an existing organisation and ask you to enter the new user’s information: name and surname, position, department and email address.

If all the information is correct, we will activate the new user profile, giving it its own ID and password.

All the users in the organisation can access the different services offered by bizkaia:talent and the full account record online.

Yes, they can. bizkaia:talent’s services are targeted at all companies (including SMEs), technology centres, research teams or centres, universities, associations and foundations based in the Historical Territory of Bizkaia that are interested in contacting professionals or hiring talented highly qualified people.

No, it is not. On the one hand, bizkaia:talent is an intermediary between companies, universities, technology centres, clusters, R&D units and centres, providing services to identify, contact and recruit highly qualified people living abroad or not, and to facilitate the transfer to and adaptation in Bizkaia of researchers and professionals coming from abroad.

On the other hand, bizkaia:talent enters professional profiles in our database and sends the information on matching profiles to the relevant actors.

bizkaia:talent’s vision and mission are related to the creation of the circumstances required to recruit and retain highly qualify people in knowledge and innovation processes. It can be said that talent and human capital management in Bizkaia should focus on two closely related areas: individuals and projects.

Individuals:The aim is to identify talent in innovation, research and entrepreneurship in response to technology-based and knowledge-generating projects. Bizkaia:talent actively encourages the recruitment of identified talented individuals, and this means designing and coordinating a personalised offer meeting the personal and professional needs of the talents identified and fulfilling Bizkaia’s development prospects.

Projects: The goal is to turn Bizkaia into an attractive region for the development of stable personal, professional and business projects tapping the potential of innovative talent with other public or private organisations.

At present, bizkaia:talent runs an aid programme for researchers, aimed at enhancing innovation capabilities in the Historical Territory by encouraging researcher recruitment, engagement, development and/or training.

The aid programme for researchers is expected to achieve the following goals:

• Integration of experienced researchers to our Historical Territory through the development of research projects with Bizkaia-based organisations.
• Engagement of external collaborators to carry out innovative projects in Bizkaia, so that researchers with long experience in their fields of expertise can cement collaboration and develop innovative projects with organisations in our Historical Territory.
• Training of qualified professionals abroad, giving researchers who wish to develop their careers in Bizkaia the chance to carry out their research projects and make progress here.

Co-financed by the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7, ‘Marie Curie Actions’), the programme is aimed at enhancing the scientific capabilities of the Historical Territory of Bizkaia, recruiting experienced senior researchers, improving the transfer of knowledge, strengthening international networks and reaching an adequate number of professionals. It also seeks to encourage research activities and promote economic development in Bizkaia and in Europe while contributing to researchers’ professional development.

bizkaia:talent offers three different types of aid:

TYPE 1 – Aid to experienced researchers for integration in Bizkaia

Long-term cooperation between the host organisation and the researcher, bizkaia:talent’s focus. Financial aid amounts to 50% of the researcher’s gross salary for the first three years from the employment contract date. The remaining 50% is paid by the host organisation.

TYPE 2 – Aid for the engagement of external collaborators developing innovative projects in Bizkaia

This type of aid enables experienced researchers to cement collaboration and develop innovative research projects with Bizkaia-based organisations.

It is aimed at strengthening medium- and long-term cooperation for researcher career advancement. It is the right kind of aid for the collaboration between researchers and host organisations in specific projects. The researchers take part in the project, but they are not expected to settle in Bizkaia; their stay in the region is temporary.

Bizkaia:talent contributes up to €61,000 a year for two years to cover the researcher’s travel expenses. The remaining amount is to be paid by the host organisation.

TYPE 3 – Training aid for qualified professionals abroad and their return to Bizkaia

This plan offers researchers who want to develop their careers in Bizkaia the chance to carry out a research project and train at world-class international organisations. The aid covers 100% of their travel expenses for a period between three months and three years.

The aid will cover all or part of the researcher’s travel and mobility expenses, depending on candidate evaluation and the interest aroused by the project.