Introduction

In this chapter, we describe how policy makers and decision-makers developed and implemented strategies and policies based on the ‘talent’ imaginary and bring knowledge alchemy to life. By reviewing how the presuppositions revolving around the global competition for talent became integrated in higher education and university policies, migration policies, university recruitment practices and more, we show how the processes of globalization, internationalization and competition unfold across multiple policy sectors, institutions and governance levels. Here, policy makers and decision-makers use the notion of interdependence in multiple ways: to describe the state of existence, to identify the sources of cause for concern (interdependence as a policy problem), and to present policy solutions (interdependence as an opportunity for new alliances and cooperation). To unpack how interdependence is interpreted and used, we organized this chapter to revolve around several case studies that span multiple governance levels: the macro-regional, the national and transregional, and at the city level. Our case selections are meant to be illustrative and not comprehensive, involving cities, countries and regions in the ‘West’ as well as the ‘East’. What our cases have in common is the centrality of the ‘talent’ competition imaginary, articulated through the competition narrative, driving knowledge governance.

We start with developments taking place at the beyond-the-state level, looking particularly at how the EU integrated the presuppositions about global talent competition into its strategies and policies concerning creating a ‘knowledge area’, big technology and AI. We then examine China and its university alliance-building efforts through the Belt and Road Initiative. Our discussion shows how China is strategically positioning its universities at the centre of the global web of connectivity through differentiated approachesof university alliance building. Finally, we turn to city-level developments and unpack how cities are becoming global players in talent competition. What the various developments taking place across multiple governance levels reveal is how prevalent the practice of integrating the imaginaries of competing for ‘talent’ has become. Indeed, knowledge alchemy has reached a fevered pitch and its allure is no longer confined only to national actors working in one policy domain: it is now widespread and highly contagious to anyone everywhere susceptible to yearnings of being ‘competitive’.