Immigrant Nation, American Success: PhDs and Patents
In a time when immigrants are being demonized in some quarters, the Vilcek Foundation seeks to show how the foreign-born population contributes to American research and development. “PhDs and Patents,” the first in an “Immigrant Nation, American Success” infographic series looks at the link between immigrants and innovation. For example, did you know that the majority of patents from America’s top 10 patent-producing universities listed at least one foreign-born inventor?
Many have always believed that immigrants are vital to American progress, but now we’ve got the numbers to back it up! The “Immigrant Nation, American Success” series summarize how the foreign-born fuel scientific and economic development in the U.S. The graphic, “PhDs and Patents,” shows the link between foreign-born graduate students in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and innovation in American research and development. Studies by organizations such as the World Bank, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the bipartisan Partnership for a New American Economy have projected that the nation gains 62 patent applications for every 100 international students who receive science or engineering PhDs from American universities, and that, on average, 2.62 jobs are created for every foreign-born graduate with an advanced degree from a U.S. university who stays to work in a STEM field.
KJ