Lessons for U.S. Metro Areas: Characteristics and Clustering of High-Tech Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Author: 
Cathy Yang Liu, Gary Painter, & Qingfang Wang
Date of Publication: 
March, 2014
Source Organization: 
Other

Lessons for U.S. Metro Areas: Characteristics and Clustering of High-Tech Immigrant Entrepreneurs examines the importance and impact of high-tech entrepreneurship at local and regional levels and suggests what cities and metros can do to attract and nurture foreign-born entrepreneurs.

Using American Community Survey data, the report finds spatial, industry and growth differences between foreign- and native-born entrepreneurs.  Immigrant-owned high-tech businesses, for example, are more concentrated in a limited number of industries, such as computer sciences and medical- and pharmaceutical-related fields, whereas U.S.-born entrepreneurs are more evenly distributed across all high-tech sectors.  The data show the increasing importance of high-tech immigrant workers and entrepreneurs in buttressing local innovation economies. Immigrants now make up 20 percent of the high-tech workforce and 17.3 percent of high-tech entrepreneurs, up from 13.7 percent and 13.5 percent in 2000.The study also examines the factors that explain the clustering of immigrant entrepreneurs in particular metropolitan areas.  High-tech immigrant entrepreneurs are drawn to areas of high ethnic diversity that already boast large immigrant populations and which are culturally open to new people and ideas. The data show that 80 percent of immigrant high-tech entrepreneurs are found in the largest 25 metropolitan areas -- one-third in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco alone -- compared with 57 percent of U.S.-born entrepreneurs. 

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Citation: 

Liu, C. Y., Painter, G., Wang, Q. (2014). Lessons for U.S. Metro Areas: Characteristics and Clustering of High-Tech Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Kansas City: MO. Available at: https://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/reports/lessons-for-us-metro-areas-characteristics-and-clustering-of-high-tech-immigrant-entrepreneurs/