No-one involved in procurement needs telling that the battleground for talent has got a whole lot more ugly in 2007, and, with this in mind, a recent article in Fortune magazine should be required reading for anyone with a passing interest in the subject.

The piece, which was penned by Geoff Colvin, the magazine’s editor-at-large, argues that countries are beginning to realise that their future success depends not on their resources, but on that most priceless of commodities – human capital.

“Companies have been battling for years to attract and keep the best people. Now countries are engaging in the same fight,” Colvin says. “It wasn't much of a scrap until recently. Only the United States, Western Europe, and Japan - for a while - were even contenders. They didn't beat up on one another too badly vying for the best talent because there was enough to go around.”

Not any more there isn’t. And in a week where Europe has once again outlined plans to attract more skilled workers, a plan Colvin slams as “pretty pathetic”, the battle for what he terms “human-capital supremacy”, promises to rage on.

According to Colvin, education is the key battleground, and cites comments made by Cisco CEO, John Chambers, that “anyone with a college degree should be welcome in our country, with appropriate security change,” as evidence that, in an increasingly global marketplace, nations have to adapt to the demands placed upon them.

“This international fight for talent will get much more serious,” Colvin warns. “With luck, it will lead to something new: a free market in brainpower.

Wise words indeed.