Monterrey, Mexico (August 15th and 16th) - Dr. Peter Vogel (Founder of The Entrepreneurs' Ship and Entrepreneurship researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) was invited by the Cámara de la Industria de la Transformación en Nuevo Leon (CAINTRA) to give an executive training with policymakers, entrepreneurs and corporate CEOs on building a MedTech cluster in the region of Monterrey (Mexico). 





This two-day intensive training was composed of several different components including an in-depth cluster analysis of the Swiss MedTech Ecosystem, an analysis of the regional actors and factors in Monterrey that can form the basis to build a healthy MedTech cluster as well as possible avenues for innovative developments that are aligned with the cluster's strategy. 

The founder of The Entrepreneurs' Ship, Peter Vogel, recently gave a TED talk at the IMD in Lausanne.

In his presentation, Peter explores the future of the labor market and the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The technological revolution not only changed the way we work and live, but who we are. The “Next Generations” are facing the highest youth unemployment rates and at the same time employers have entered a fierce competition for talents. This huge challenge can only be solved by the next generation itself, in re-defining the labor market of the future. Establishing assessable and healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems has to become priority #1 of policymakers and practitioners if we want to ensure that the terminology “Lost Generation” will always remain a piece of history.

See the full talk:

The global labor market crisis for young people is getting worse and worse. Governments around the world are struggling to reduce unemployment. Special attention needs to be given to youth unemployment, as the earliest years on the labor market have the most significant impact on a persons' professional development. 

While employers argue that there is a war for talents and that universities do not produce enough talented workers, the unemployment rates in several developed countries are rising beyond what one has thought could be possible. The scariest chart of the labor market has now become even more scary!

Source: Eurostat

More than 75 million young people were unemployed in late 2010 (UN World Youth Report 2012). This is a trend that disproportionately affects the developed world, which might sound somewhat counter-intuitive if we consider the shrinking birth-rates. However, there are some logical reasons for this trend:

• An aging population.
• Pension systems that cannot afford financing people for 30 years or more after having paid into the system for maybe 30-35 years.
• An older generation that therefore needs to and wants to work longer.
• An academization of the younger generations as a result of the misconception that everyone needs to go to university in order to become successful.
• A mismatch between what is being taught at schools and universities and what is being required on the labor market.
• A lack of experience among the younger generations and at the same time a lack of available jobs for younger people to develop their professional track-record and gain work experience.
• An increase of productivity and automation in the manufacturing industry leading to job-cuts
• Universities that are too ignorant to develop function career-guidance services that help their students prepare for the labor market.

If no suitable labor market incentives are identified, the result will be economic waste as well as an undermined social stability and a marginalization of the local workforce, a valuable natural resource for any country. Entrepreneurship is one of many active labor market policies that need to be focused on. Supporting young people in gaining work experience through starting projects and companies is an effective mechanism to by-pass the challenges of getting an entry-level position. Of course, not everyone is made for entrepreneurship. However, by helping young people realize entrepreneurial projects and ideas, relevant skills for the general labor market are being learned.