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ROME, October 23, 2026 — The Global Talent Fund (GTF) and the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF) concluded the Talent Economics Conference 2026 in Rome today. The three-day gathering, hosted at EIEF, brought together leading researchers and emerging scholars to share their findings.
Held October 21–23, the conference explored how exceptional talent develops, how gifted individuals can be identified and supported, and how they contribute to scientific discovery and economic growth.
Topics discussed included how to identify and support mathematical talent in low- and middle-income countries, the impact of gifted education programs, how higher education opportunities shape talent development, and the role of exceptional individuals in driving innovation and productivity.
Among the sessions were keynote addresses by economist John Van Reenen of the London School of Economics and psychologist Camilla Benbow of Vanderbilt University. David Lubinski of Vanderbilt University delivered a masterclass on the psychology of intellectual talent, while Pierre-Michel Menger of the Collège de France delivered a masterclass on the semantics of talent.
“Exceptional talent can have an outsized impact on scientific discovery, innovation, and economic growth. Yet we still know surprisingly little about how to identify and nurture it. This conference brought together researchers across disciplines to help advance Talent Economics as a field of scientific inquiry,” said conference co-organizers Ruchir Agarwal of Harvard University and GTF, Gaia Dossi of EIEF, and Patrick Gaule of the University of Bristol and GTF.
Massimo Sbracia, Director of the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, added: “Talent matters. Consider one example: here in Rome, the great physicist Enrico Fermi pulled together a small group of researchers who laid the foundations of nuclear energy. But too many groups like this never form because talented children aren’t found. The Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance is proud to support Talent Economics to find and nurture talent worldwide. We have been delighted to partner with the Global Talent Fund to host this gathering.”
The conference opened with an Early Career Researchers Workshop on October 21, which provided PhD students and postdoctoral researchers with an opportunity to present their work and engage with established scholars.
The full conference program is available here.
About the Global Talent Fund
The Global Talent Fund helps top math and science students from around the world realize their full potential. Through research and programs, GTF aims to expand human ingenuity to solve the defining challenges of our time.
About the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance
The Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF) is an independent research institute established by the Bank of Italy in 2008. Based in Rome, EIEF conducts frontier research in economics and finance, with an emphasis on policy-relevant topics. It also works to advance higher education in economics and finance in Italy through graduate courses, seminars, and international conferences.
Contact
Global Talent Fund: press@globtalent.org
Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance: info@eief.it
