Study Finds That Foreign-Born Inventors Play Prominent Role at Top U.S. Patent-Producing Universities

Patent Docs
July 4, 2012

A study commissioned by the Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan group of mayors from across the country and business leaders from all sectors of the economy seeking to raise awareness of the economic benefits of sensible immigration reform, shows that 76% of patents issued in 2011 to the top 10 patent-generating universities in the U.S. named a foreign-born inventor. The 30-page report, entitled “Patent Pending: How Immigrants Are Reinventing the American Economy,” was released last month.

Partnership Co-Chair, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, noted that the study was “indisputable proof of the enormous contribution of immigrants in developing the new technologies and ideas needed to renew the U.S. economy and create American jobs,” adding that “American universities are doing their part in attracting and educating the world’s top minds, but our broken immigration laws continue to push them to our competitors.” According to the report, the University of California led all other U.S. universities with respect to issued patents in 2011, securing 369.

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