A new study finds that in 25% of technology and engineering companies started in the U.S.
from 1995 to 2005, at least one key founder was foreign-born. The report builds upon a similar study from AnnaLee Saxenian at U-Cal Berkeley in 1999.
The study highlights the importance of immigrants for generating innovations:
In 2006, 24.2% of U.S.-originated international patent applications
were authored or co-authored by foreign nationals residing in the U.S.
These immigrant non-citizens, as we called them, are typically foreign
graduate students completing their PhDs, green card holders awaiting
citizenship, and employees of multinationals on temporary visas. This
percentage had increased from 7.8% in 1988—and this count doesn’t
include immigrants who had become citizens.
In other words, it is skilled immigrants who are increasingly
providing the intellectual capital that fuels innovation and gives the
U.S. a competitive edge in the global economy. The problem is a
significant number of those who are contributing this intellectual
talent may not be here permanently.