Bengt Holmström: "The right moment to attract talent to Finland" 

The discussion was broadcasted online on Hanken Research Day on Friday 27 November 2020. You can watch the recording here.

Holmström reminds of that the competition for talent is big. Donald Trump has made it more difficult to immigrate to the United States, and thus, Finland would according to Holmström benefit from reacting fast.

“Finland is known for being clean and well-organized, and this is a very good brand. And the fact that the country is led by women makes it an attractive country for women to come to.”  

Holmström strongly believes that the campuses will come to life again after the corona pandemic since supervision and the exchange of ideas face to face cannot be replaced. On the other hand, he thinks that online education on a global scale is really taking off. 

“I recently gave a talk on a Chinese forum with four million listeners. This indicates what possibilities global online learning entails. This is something that Finland should not miss.

"Corona pandemic tied to the season"

For Holmström, the corona pandemic has meant more work. 

“I travel from one virtual event to another all the time”.  

Holmström says that even though it is "highly uncertain", it has "slowly become evident" that the corona pandemic is "almost surely seasonal".

“I think we are now in the worst time when people are staying more and more indoors, and the ultraviolet radiation is decreasing. I believe that the spring will be easier, but I also think we should be prepared for the coronavirus not to be gone next autumn, even if we would get a vaccine against it”.  

Holmström predicts that the level of activity in some workplaces will decrease compared to how it was previously also after the pandemic. 

“It is possible that business travel decreases somewhat, which makes it difficult for companies in the travel and related sectors. However, I think there will be an increasing demand for private dining when people do not have to fear about being infected anymore.”  

This year, Hanken's research day also offered four presentations by Hanken's researchers doing covid19-related research: Emma Nordbäck, Kim Ittonen and Jesper Haga, Gyöngyi Kovács and Erik Wengström. After the presentations, the researchers were interviewed by Baba Lybeck.