Brain Drain or brain gain?

The United States is the main pole of attraction for foreign skilled workers; 40% of its foreign-born adult population have tertiary level education. Since the early 1990s, some 900 000 highly skilled professionals, mainly IT workers, from India, China, Russia and a few OECD¹ countries (including Canada, the UK and Germany) have migrated to the United States under the H1B² temporary visa programme. […] International mobility of skilled workers can generate global benefits by improving knowledge flows […]. The contribution of foreign skilled workers to economic growth and achievement in host countries, in particular to research, innovation and entrepreneurship, is increasingly recognised – witness the number of foreign-born US Nobel Prize winners or creators of global high tech companies, such as Intel or eBay, and other successful start-ups. […] The harsh reality is that only a handful of countries have been successful in luring their talented emigrés back home […]; in 2000, it was estimated that some 1,500 highly qualified Indians returned from the United States, although more than 30 times that number depart each year. The risk of a Brain Drain is real. Yet countries can create opportunities for research, innovation and entrepreneurship at home and stimulate a return flow of migrants and capital, as well as win access to international innovation networks.