AbstractDue an aging demographic profile, low labour mobility and a mismatch between education and labour market demand, it is has been argued that the EU region will face a scarcity of highly skilled talent in the near future. Many EU member states recognize that maintaining and increasing their present high level of economic wealth and international competitiveness will require that this scarcity is addressed. The Netherlands and Germany have ongoing programmes to attract talent from countries with high availability of skilled human resources. India is a prime focus for both these countries seeking to attract ‘knowledge migrants’.The projectNyenrode Business University (Netherlands) Kienbaum (Germany) and The Executive Consulting Group (Netherlands) have joined hands to conduct an extensive research study on “Enhancing European Competitiveness by Leveraging Highly Skilled Indian Professionals” over the period of 4 years. The research study will focus on investigating Indian professionals and strategies to attract them; investigating expectations of Indian professionals towards the employment relationship with EU organizations (the “psychological contract approach” to the employment relationship forms the theoretical framework of this topic) and translating research findings into policies and instruments and disseminating knowledge to industryThe innovative character of the study is in the production of scientific knowledge with reference to Indian highly-skilled professionals and to quantify the possible benefits of Indian talent for the European Union. The translation of the scientific knowledge into managerial implications, policies and tools will provide a significant practical contribution to European industry.Industry-Academic partnershipThrough the partnership, all three partners will interact extensively and share their knowledge and experience on this subject. Nyenrode will be responsible for the core academic activities in the research.