Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., and her co-author contributed a chapter in a National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report on the critical role immigrants play in the STEM workforce and innovation.
The full report explores relationships between immigration and entrepreneurship, differences between immigrant entrepreneurs and those born in the U.S., visa policies, and postgraduation migration patterns.
The chapter co-authored by Kerr investigates how immigrants and those born in the U.S. utilized networking opportunities provided by the co-working space CIC, formerly the Cambridge Innovation Center. The researchers surveyed 1,334 people working at CIC in three locations spread across the Boston area and one in St. Louis, MO. Survey responses showed that immigrants valued networking capabilities in CIC more, and the networks developed by immigrants at CIC tended to be larger. Immigrants also reported substantially greater rates of giving and receiving advice for six surveyed factors: business operations, venture financing, technology, suppliers, people to recruit, and customers.
