the global competition for talent innovation and mobility of the highly skilled oecd/france...
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The Global Competition for TalentInnovation and mobility of the highly skilled
OECD/France International Conference: CERI 40th AnniversaryConservatoire National des Arts et MétiersParis, 9 December 2008
Sarah Box, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and [email protected]
Background trends: the context for mobility
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•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…
Note: (1) Australia, Canada, Iceland, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway and Turkey. (2) Argentina, Brazil, India, Israel, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Chinese Taipei; latest years for India estimated.Source: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators and national sources.
Contributions to growth in global R&D, 1996-2001 and 2001-2006(in billion constant USD PPP and %)
37%
16%
23%
15%
7%
13%
10%
13%
11%
30%
12%
13%
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
1996-2001 2001-2006
Other non-OECD (2)
China
Other OECD (1)
Japan
EU-27
United States
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 2000-2005
• 84% 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)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Milli
ons
Number of students enrolled outside their country of citizenship,
1975-2005
6Source: 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.
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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.
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For China: A growing share of students return
20.4 20.9 22.417.6
23.7
39
84
125.2117.3 114.7 118.5
5.8 6.6 7.1 7.4 7.7 9.1 12.217.9 20.2
24.7
35
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
%
Overseas Chinese students Returned students Return/abroad
Thousand persons
Source: OECD, Review of Innovation Policy, China, based on NBS, China Statistical Yearbook.
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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…
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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
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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 (1985-2004)
Source: Evidence (2005)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Switzerland Australia Canada Italy Germany Netherlands UK Japan France USA
%
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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 (2002-04)
13Source: OECD Patent Database 2008
Impacts – co-authorship
• Numerous studies point to increased international co-authorship
• E.g. from 1992-2003, 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(1994-98 grads and 1999-2003
articles)
Source: Regets (2007)
-2.0
-1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Fore
ign-b
orn
US
do
cto
rate
ho
lde
rs 1
994
-98
(lo
g)
Coauthored articles 1999-2003 (log)
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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;
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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