Popular culture portrays innovators in the U.S. as young college dropouts. A more accurate description is older, well-educated immigrants, according to a new study. More than one-third of the U.S.-based innovators—scientists and engineers responsible for the advances that drive tech—were born outside the country, according to recent a survey of about 900 patent holders and award-winning scientists in the U.S., conducted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., think tank. That represents a disproportionately high number of foreigners, since foreign-born people make up 13.5% of all U.S. residents, the study says. “We are dependent on immigrants with science and technology expertise,” says Robert Atkinson, an author of the report and president of the foundation. “They are making it possible for U.S. companies and foreign companies in the U.S. to gain market share and hire more scientists and engineers.” The tech industry, where many of the innovators find a home, has become a major defender of foreign workers in the U.S. Tech companies see these employees as vital to their success because they are well-qualified and fill vacant roles.
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