The Global Competition for Talent Innovation and mobility of the highly skilled OECD/France International Conference: CERI 40 th Anniversary Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers Paris, 9 December 2008 Sarah Box, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry

Background trends: the context for mobility 2 Strengthening investment in R&D raising demand for researchers Non-OECD countries of growing importance for global science and innovation Fragmentation of value chains Ageing population, drop in share of graduates in science and engineering…

Expatriates to OECD countries, by OECD member, 2001 Source: OECD Database on Immigrants and Expatriates 3

Highly skilled migrants from OECD & non-OECD countries, by OECD country of residence, 2001 (as % of skilled natives in country of residence) Source: OECD Database on Immigrants and Expatriates 4

Net balance: Highly skilled emigrants and immigrants, 2001 Source: OECD Database of Immigrants and Expatriates (000) 5

Student mobility has risen very fast Students are increasingly mobile – numbers grew 50% from % enrolled in OECD area – top destinations are US, UK, Germany, France, Australia Two-thirds of foreign students in OECD countries are from non- OECD economies – top sources are China, India, Morocco, Malaysia, Hong Kong (China) Number of students enrolled outside their country of citizenship, Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2007

Return and circular migration Return and circular migration form an important part of mobility –75% return rate of skilled Australian emigrants who depart permanently –50% of immigrants with work visas left Norway within 10 years of arrival – similar figures in Canada –Intended length of stay of immigrants to UK is falling. 7

Why do people return? Reasons for return: –Family/personal reasons, adequate employment opportunities at home –Norwegian data on scientific researchers – the greater the cultural, economic and geographic distance, the more likely migrant researchers will leave Norway –For students, perceptions of labour market in host country also important. Stay rates of students differ by country of origin, and by field of study. 8

For China: A growing share of students return Source: OECD, Review of Innovation Policy, China, based on NBS, China Statistical Yearbook. 9

Impacts of mobility Personal gain: better economic conditions, availability of quality research infrastructure, access to star scientists, freedom to debate Mobility is vital to diffusion of tacit knowledge –Face-to-face communication is still important –Migrant knowledge spreads to their new organisation, to geographically proximate entities and to community of practice Amount of knowledge that moves depends on institutional environment, absorptive capacity… 10

Impacts on sending countries Permanent migration –Diaspora: building familiarity and confidence with sending countries, acting as conduits for knowledge –Beneficial brain drain – an incentive to improve human capital –Access to a larger global stock of knowledge Temporary migration –Brain circulation builds networks, linkages and thoroughfares for knowledge – but absorptive capacity is essential 11

Impacts – labour market internationalisation Occurring in both private sector and academia Drawing on migrant knowledge of foreign languages and markets, networks of colleagues, teaching abilities Some evidence that academic mobility associated with higher quality output Share of highly cited with non-home research experience (by country of current institution) Based on sample of 494 researchers from ISI Highly Cited Database ( ) Source: Evidence (2005) 12

Impacts - invention Studies from US suggest increasing proportion of patents involve foreign nationals residing in US, and large involvement of skilled immigrants in engineering & tech firm creation. Also increasing international co-operation in invention. Patents with foreign co- inventors ( ) 13 Source: OECD Patent Database 2008

Impacts – co-authorship Numerous studies point to increased international co- authorship E.g. from , the % of internationally co-authored S&E papers went from 14% to 25% in US and 12% to 21% in Japan Patterns of co-authorship affected by country capacity, geographic proximity, institutional linkages… Relationship of foreign-born US S&E doctorate recipients to country scientific collaboration with US ( grads and articles) Source: Regets ( 2007 ) 14

Future prospects Mobility of skilled people has become a central aspect of globalisation Mobility policies in OECD countries are currently mainly aimed at attracting talent and addressing shortages: –With growing international demand for talent, developing and strengthening national efforts to foster talent will become more important to address demand. –Sending talent abroad should be equally important as attracting talent. –More thinking on the rationale for government policy is needed Developing policy coherence: –Policy gaps: fostering circular/temporary mobility, diaspora –Establishing a supportive broader environment for innovation; 15

Summary Mobility of researchers leads to flows of knowledge that benefit both sending and receiving countries: Mobility is not a zero-sum game Flows of HRST and students are significant for some countries, with increasing circular and return migration Mobility is accompanied by increasing internationalisation of labour markets, research, and scientific activity Mobility is growing and competition for highly skilled is increasing – getting domestic HRST supply policies right is becoming more important