The potential dangers of immigration ‘point systems’: Lessons from the history of Danish American communities in the US

a column by Nina Boberg-Fazlic and Paul Sharp for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Can immigration point systems identify desirable immigrants?

This column investigates the lessons of 19th-century migration from then-poor Denmark to the US. By 1890, Denmark had developed into a world-leading dairy producer. It finds that areas in the US with many Danes before the transformation of Danish agriculture benefited from significant knowledge transfers thereafter, and specialised in high-tech dairying. This provides a cautionary tale for those arguing that desirable migrants can be identified ex ante.

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Trade and investment in the global economy

a column by James Anderson, Mario Larch and Yoto Yotov for VOX: CEPR&rsquop;s Policy Portal

Foreign direct investment has traditionally been viewed as a key driver of prosperity, and modern FDI has also become a vehicle for transferring intangible assets.

This column uses a counterfactual experiment based on a hypothetical world with no outward or inward FDI to and from low-income and lower-middle-income countries to examine the effects of FDI on trade, domestic investment, and welfare. World welfare falls by about 6% and all countries lose out, with some poorer countries losing over 50%. World trade falls by 7%, with the losses again unevenly distributed.

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Attracting and retaining student talent from around the world: The lived experience in university-industry collaboration

an article by Johanna Julia Vauterin, Karl-Erik Michelsen and Lassi Linnanen (Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland) published in Industry and Higher Education Volume 27 Number 3 (June 2013)

Abstract

To be prepared for changing student talent pools in emerging geographical markets, and to remain attractive to the coming waves of student mobility, the European higher education sector must improve its ability to absorb international student talent in greater numbers.

This paper presents an analysis of the nature and value of university-industry partnering as a means of attracting and retaining global student talent. The authors argue that global student talent recruitment lies at the heart of “knowledge transfer through people”. With this in mind, an inclusive picture of the university-industry partnering phenomenon is provided; and the role of collaborative experiencing and learning is examined.

It was found that even university-industry collaborative practice dealing with global issues remains local in terms of engagement. The paper demonstrates that, by using interpretive and participatory methods, new insights can be gained into the university-industry practice of partnering to promote the attraction and retention of global student talent.

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Harnessing the Benefits of Publicly-Funded Research

an article by Pluvia Zuniga (UNU Maastricht Economics and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology) and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent (Economics & Statistics Division, WIPO) published in WIPO Magazine 3/2012 (June 2012)

Introductory paragraph

Over the last 30 years, high-income economies have sought to maximize the benefits of publicly-funded research to accelerate knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship and to fuel innovation and economic growth. As a consequence, universities and public research organizations (PROs) in these countries are becoming more strongly business-focused.

In light of the perceived benefits of strengthening university-industry links, particularly in terms of stimulating innovation and promoting technology transfer, many middle- and low-income economies are adopting similar approaches. This is causing analysts to look more closely at these policies.

• Can they be readily exported from one setting to another?
• Is university patenting an efficient driver of business innovation?
• What is the impact of such policies in terms of economic growth and knowledge generation?

This third article in WIPO Magazine’s Innovation Trends series takes a closer look at the evolving landscape and considers the merits of more active use of the intellectual property (IP) system by universities and PROs in middle- and lower-income settings.

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