Technological Innovation Boosted By US Immigration From India And China

22 Jul 2010

Harvard Business School claims that Indian and Chinese people living in the US have contributed significantly to technological innovation in the country. This study has been published in the Journal of Labor Economics which claims that the number of patents filed by people with Indian and Chinese names increases within cities and firms that are reliant on UK work visa holders. However, the patent filings do not include the inventor’s nationality.

H-1B visas are used by firms to import workers with specialist skills from abroad. And the reports look at areas in which H-1B visas are issued which are particularly popular among technology, engineering and IT firms.

The report explained, "We conclude that total invention increased with higher [H-1B] admissions primarily through the direct contributions of immigrant inventors, we are also able to rule out displacement of native workers."