Although immigration in the united States has been the subject of hot policy debates in recent years, one group of immigrants has been virtually absent from those discussions—skilled immigrants who become entrepreneurs. Foreign born entrepreneurs are an underestimated American Resource.
I have led a series of research studies that show that foreign born entrepreneurs have brought enormous economic benefits and innovations to the United States, further reinforcing the fact that the United States provides a fertile environment for spawning entrepreneurship.
The genesis of our research was a 1999 report by AnnaLee Saxenian of the University of California at Berkeley that showed that Chinese and Indian engineers ran a growing share of Silicon Valley companies. They were at the helm of 24 percent of the technology businesses started from 1980 to 1998. Saxenian concluded that foreign born scientists and engineers were generating new jobs and wealth for the California economy. Even those who returned to their home countries to take advantage of opportunities there were building links to the united States and spurring California’s technological innovation and economic expansion.
