In the 2018 conference series, we investigate the freelance economy and how this is changing the relationship between the young Connected Generation and the traditional industrial employers. We heard many times from undergraduates and from young people who has just entered the workplace, that a long term career in industry was not attractive. The best talent was choosing to go and work in the entrepreneurial ecosystem where the conditions suited the Generation C characteristics.

If traditional big industry is losing the battle when it comes to attracting the best young talent, the underlying question from 2018 was, what should industry do?

Although a lot of innovation does still take place within the company walls, a well established business model in the entrepreneurial ecosystem is to grow a start-up to the point that it becomes a target for a buy-out by large industries looking to capitalise on the technology. But the people who created (or are struggling to create) the technology are just as important as the technology itself. This conference theme is about collaboration, but not just the traditional technology scouting, but also to explore the possibilities and benefits of talent management from industry to start-up and possibly vice-versa.

If the young talent that are attracted to the entrepreneurial ecosystem are given more mentoring and guidance, how would that affect the rate of infant mortality in the Start-up-community? Would that have an effect on the saleability of the technology? How would that change the employment prospects of the technology creators? Would it have an effect on the retention of the employees when (or if) they remained with the new industrial owner of the technology?

The speakers inputs will be used as the basis for a facilitated debate among all the conference participants and there will be an on line survey to gather participants opinion.

Results from each conference in the series will contribute to an ongoing survey by the EIIL which will report in Brussels on 28th November.