Bizkaia Talent is the winner of the Place Marketing Awards in the economic development category

• The project of the Basque association won top spot in the category out of 11 finalists from around the world

Bizkaia Talent has once again won world recognition, on this occasion from the A&NMT (Chaire Attractivité et Nouveau Marketing Territorial) which has named the Bizkaia Provincial Council-funded association as the best example in the world for its inclusive Be Basque strategy which promotes territorial talent management by inviting highly qualified professionals from all parts of the planet to create prosperity in the Basque Country.

The French chair is the organiser of the Place Marketing Forum which has been held since 2013 and whose goal is to monitor and identify at the international level inspiring approaches which respond to the challenges and problems faced by nations in the following five categories: brand, tourism, large-scale projects, territories with specificity and economic development. The seventh edition of the forum will take place on the forthcoming 2nd and 3rd April in Marseilles, where the award ceremony will take place.

The Bizkaia Talent project has been nominated the best for excellence in innovation, performance and emblematic achievements ahead of COPENHAGEN CAPACITY (Copenhagen), CTIC DAKAR (Dakar, Senegal), FABCITY GLOBAL INITIATIVE (Barcelona), INTERNATIONAL CITY HUB LUND (Lund, Sweden), INVEST PORTO (Oporto), NRW.INVEST (Germany), RESILIAN NETWORK (Alsace, France), SADC OF QUEBEC (Kamouraska, Canada), SDBN SAN DIEGO BIOTECHNOLOGY NETWORK (San Diego, USA) and WUXI SMART (Wuxi, China).

Mr Ivan Jimenez, the Managing Director of Bizkaia Talent, stated that this recognition “confirms that we are going in the right direction with our commitment to the Be Basque concept of integration together with the digitalization combination strategy and the policy of personal contact with professionals, all of which is turning us into a world reference and gives us strength to forge ahead. None of this would be possible without the splendid work of our outstanding team and the support of our partners, obviously including the Provincial Council of Bizkaia which has fostered this initiative from the outset.”