A new study released Tuesday has found that
around a quarter of all new technology companies started in the U.S.
are founded by immigrants.
The study, entitled entrepreneurship-has-stalled-for-the-first-time-in-decades-kauffman-foundation-study-shows.aspx" target="_blank">America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Then
and Now, found that the role of newcomers in Silicon Valley is even
more pronounced than previously believed, with some 44 per cent of
all tech start-ups in the country's high tech capital having at least
one immigrant founder.
The study's co-author, Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University said that
the findings should spur US legislators to encourage the immigration
of highly skilled foreigners.
"The US risks losing a key growth engine just when the economy
needs job creators more than ever," said Wadhwa in a statement. "The
US can reverse these trends with changes in policies and
opportunities, if it acts swiftly."
Wadhwa urged the creation of a startup visa for entrepreneurs and
an expansion of the number of green cards granted to skilled
foreigners to work in startups.
"Many immigrants would gladly remain in the United States to start
and grow companies that will lead to jobs," Wadhwa said.
The study, which examined a random sampling of 1,882 of the more
than 100,000 engineering and technology companies founded in the past
six years, found that immigrants from India represented the largest
group of foreign founders, at 33.2 per cent, followed by China (8.1
per cent), the United Kingdom (6.3 per cent), Canada (4.2 per cent),
Germany (3.9 per cent), Israel (3.5 per cent), Russia (2.4 per cent),
Korea (2.2 per cent), Australia (2.0 per cent) and the Netherlands
(2.0 per cent).
