Immigration and Innovation: Review on the Effects on Innovation Outputs and Education

Abstract

Notwithstanding its importance in light of current migration patterns, the link between immigration and innovation is of recent interest and mainly confined to research, focusing on the United States and the European Union, with emerging studies also from Oceania. Thus, the present work will focus on this relation by considering the factors which influence immigrants’contribution to destination countries’overall level of innovation, cultural diversity, demographic agglomeration forces and newcomers’educational background emerge as drivers of innovation which influence patenting activity. Our thematic review not only summarizes the overall positive influence of migration on innovation spillovers, but also its effectiveness in isolating the channels related to education history and labour supply through which this positive influence is exerted.