Influence mechanism of the flow of high-skilled talents on technological evolution in emerging countries  

高技能人才流动对新兴国家技术演化的影响机制

作　　者：JIN Wenwan ZHU Shengjun LIN Xiongbin 金文;朱晟君;林雄斌

机构地区：[1]Department of Geography and Spatial Information Technology,Zhejiang Collaborative Innovation Center for Land and Marine Spatial Utilization and Governance Research,Ningbo University,Ningbo 315211,Zhejiang,China [2]College of Urban and Environmental Sciences,Peking University,Beijing 100871,China

出　　处：《Journal of Geographical Sciences》2025年第2期409-431,共23页地理学报(英文版)

基　　金：National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.42122006, No.41971154, No.42271201;Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.41731278。

摘　　要：Globalization has resulted in a notable rise in the flow of high-skilled talent from emerging countries to developed nations. Current research on transnational talent flow mainly focuses on the destination countries, with less attention given to the perspective of the sending countries, particularly lacking a dynamic discussion on its impact on technological evolution in the origin countries. Based on the OECD REGPAT database, this paper aims to explore how talent groups migrating to developed countries facilitate the return of knowledge and technology to emerging countries and achieve breakthroughs in their technological evolution paths, while further discussing the potential mechanisms involved. The findings of this paper are as follows:(1) The technological development of emerging countries is a path-dependent process, where countries often branch into new technologies related to their preexisting knowledge base. Consequently, knowledge feedback from high-skilled talents increases the likelihood of sending countries developing unrelated technologies.(2) The mobility of talents across borders fosters more international collaborations and citations for patents that are unrelated to the local knowledge base, thus enriching the technological paths of sending countries.(3) The mobility of high-skilled talents primarily affects complex technologies, which have significant economic effects that encourage imitation by other countries.However, the effect on novel technologies is less significant due to their strong geographical stickiness. In general, this paper addresses the gaps in existing research on talent outflow and the technological evolution of origin countries, providing empirical evidence for the positive role of transnational talent mobility in the technological catch-up of emerging nations.Besides, it offers recommendations for talent export, import, and innovation policy formulation in these countries.

关 键 词：talent flow technological evolution path-breaking mechanism research emerging countries 

分 类 号：F113.2[经济管理—国际贸易] C975[经济管理—世界经济]