Once limited to a few specialists, research on how international migration shapes innovation has now moved into the mainstream. Increasingly, “migration” and “innovation” appear jointly in the titles and keyword lists of scholarly papers, various disciplines and specialties.

Why so much interest from so many different parts?

One reason is the salience of all issues pertaining migration, especially in rich destination countries. Here, in 2020/21, migrants represented more than 12% of the population aged 15 years or more, due to a 69% increase in absolute value over two decades [1]. Promises to stop this trend rank high on most political parties’ electoral agendas and take the form of “selective” immigration policies:  restrict the entry of the low-skilled and encourage, instead, that of the highly skilled, especially if active in the STEMM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine).

In addition, many innovation leaders in advanced economies have long been engaged in a global “race for talent”. Multinational corporations search globally the scientists and engineers for their R&D operations and universities strive to attract foreign students and promising researchers across all STEMM fields.  All of them lobby strenuously for immigration policies increasing their chances of success.

These trends could not but attract the attention of economists and other social scientists. These however do not limit themselves to study the current policies, but examine in depth their fundamental premises, namely the extent and the conditions under which highly skilled migrants contribute to innovation. Do they fill a skill gap in STEMM? Do they bring knowledge otherwise scarce or unavailable in the host country? Do they increase the creativity of R&D teams? And what about low-skilled migrants? Several studies reveal how they also may be an important source of inventiveness and entrepreneurship.

One further trend that has played a decisive role in shaping migration and innovation studies is the growing global supply of tertiary-educated workers, especially from developing and middle-income countries. When considering migration to OECD countries from non-OECD ones, this share has risen from less than 30% in 2000/01 to almost 40% in 2020/21 [1]. This has revived the long-standing debate on whether and to what extent this amounts to a loss of human capital (brain drain); but it has also raised the attention to the “brain gain” mechanisms that may offset this loss, such as the incentives to invest in education created by emigration opportunities and knowledge transfer from abroad, via diasporic networks and returnees.

All these political and economic changes, however, do not tell the whole story. An additional factor in the rise of migration and innovation studies has been the internal evolution of scholars’ own research agendas.

For instance, studies on the role of migrants in international knowledge transfer arise from a longstanding interest—shared by economic geographers and innovation economists—in understanding how mobility influences the spatial spread of knowledge. Similarly, urban and regional economists have long examined how cities benefit from resident diversity, which international migrants may increase. The same applies to the workforce and top management of multinationals, on which organization scholars have a longstanding investigation record. Labour economists have a long standing interest in the substitutability or complementarity of native and immigrant workers, which largely depend on the skills of ones and the others, including those pertaining to innovation.

The concepts and methods used to investigate the recent political and economic trends have thus emerged from the internal developments of the various fields and disciplines. Our book [2] reflects these origins, as its contributors were asked to discuss how their theories, data and methods have been put to use for addressing the different research questions; what limitations they have and how to overcome them; what research gaps remain and how to fill them. Master students will find in each chapter a succinct and accessible overview of the various topics. Doctoral students will also find an indication of the research questions worth pursuing.

As for policy-makers, they will not find a specific discussion of one or another measure they have put in place, or considered. But they will find enough material for reconsidering them.

When selective immigration policies affect negatively the perceived level of inclusiveness of a country, even high-skilled migrants and international students, who should be their primary beneficiaries, may prefer relocating where they feel more welcome. This also reduces diversity in firms, cities and regions, which is an important ingredient for creativity and innovation; or may exacerbate the negative aspects of such diversity (such as inequality and disparity), to the detriment of its positive ones, such as cultural variety. In addition, limiting low-skilled immigration overlooks their importance for entrepreneurship.

Besides, they should better consider the conditions under which highly skilled immigration contribute effectively to innovation. For native and immigrant STEM workers to be complementary, and avoid the latter to displace the former, the right incentives and opportunities for knowledge transfer between the two must be in place. This requires investing additional capital, so to counter the risk of diminishing marginal productivity and increase instead – via the division of labour – the room for collaboration. The same holds for the policies put in place by the sending countries, whether consisting of financial incentives for returnees or programmes that promote engagement with diasporas.

The global search for talent should not be subordinated to the imperative of limiting low skilled immigration, but part of a comprehensive strategy of investment in human capital and research.

Francesco Lissoni is Professor of Economics at the Bordeaux School of Economics (University of Bordeaux) and a Visiting Fellow of the Dept of Political Economy, at the Università Cattolica of Milan. He is an editor of Regional Studies and sits in the editorial boards of Research Policy and Industrial & Corporate Change.

Andrea Morrison is Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia and Adjunct Professor of Innovation and Sustainability at the Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University. He is also research fellow at ICRIOS Bocconi University. He holds a M.A in Development Economics from the University of Sussex and a Ph.D. in Economic Development, Institutions and Sustainability from the University of Roma Tre. 

A Research Agenda for Migration and Innovation is available in Hardback and eBook.

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References

[1] OECD, ‘Global Trends in Immigration to OECD Countries from 2000/01 to 2020/21’, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, Migration Data Brief n. 14, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/global-trends-in-immigration-to-oecd-countries-from-2000-01-to-2020-21_752a1b9e-en.html

[2] F. Lissoni and A. Morrison, Migration and Innovation: A Research Agenda. in Elgar Research Agendas. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/a-research-agenda-for-migration-and-innovation-9781035308460.html