Indians immigrants boosting technological innovation in US

Washington, July 16 (ANI): Indians immigrants are boosting technological innovation in the United States, according to a study published by William Kerr of the Harvard Business School and William Lincoln of the University of Michigan.

According to the study, which appears in the Journal of Labor Economics, the number of U.S. patent applications filed by people with Indian and Chinese names increased substantially in cities and firms dependent upon the program.

US businesses use the H-1B programme to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

The report also states that the number of applications filed by people with Anglo-Saxon names, a proxy for U.S.-born workers did not vary with fluctuations in H-1B admissions.

"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," the authors are quoted, as saying.

The study used data gathered from 1995 to 2008, and since patent applications do not record inventors' nationalities, the researchers used an algorithm to determine probable nationalities based on the inventors' names.

They then compared those data with the number of H-1B visas granted in a given year. The number of visas fluctuated widely over the study period, due to changes in a government-mandated cap on the program. At its lowest, visas were capped at 65,000 per year, and peaked at 195,000. (ANI)