While recent global events may cause some groups to petition the closing of borders, inviting people into our culture is key for our industry's survival, media godfather Harold Mitchell said.
When asked by AdNews about what's coming down the pipeline in the next 10 years, Mitchell explained that while countries will grapple with xenophobia and the great difficulty of borders, he believes that in order to thrive as an industry we need to look to what the wider global community is doing, rather than looking to shut them out.
“Immigrants are vital to the country, education is vital to the country, and startups are vital to the country and immigrants will be a big part of that,” he said. “If you look at the startups in America right now, 50% have at least one highly educated immigrant in them.”
Mitchell believes everyone, from governments to creative businesses, should be more open to collaboration with other countries, noting previously the business opportunities amount to trillion dollar values and cooperation is the globe's strongest skill and asset.
“Don't believe that you have to build borders to our country, which includes to our intellectual success. We need to put ourselves more into the world than we ever have done in the past,” Mitchell reiterated.
“We have to be international in our outlook and push our own abilities out into the world rather than build borders and protection – that never works.”
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