Intro: Innovation

American innovation is key to our technological achievement. According to a 2012 Partnership study, 76 percent of patents granted to the top U.S. patent-producing universities in 2011 had an immigrant inventor, with inventors originating from 88 different countries. Seventy-nine percent of all pharmaceutical patents were invented or co-invented by a scientist born abroad. A quarter of all Americans who have won Nobel Prizes have been immigrants, even though immigrants make up just an eighth of the population.

The scientists, inventors, and creative thinkers of the past have established America as a global leader. We cannot let our immigration system block the way for future innovators. The U.S. attracts bright, creative minds from around the world to its top research universities; now we need to help them stay to keep America globally competitive.

Learn more about the impact of immigration on innovation below.