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Vivek Wadhwa of Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and lead researcher for the study, said the research highlights the need for the U.S. to attract and retain skilled immigrants.
"If these people are truly the best and brightest, we want to keep them," Wadhwa said.
At 13.9 percent, North Carolina was one of the lowest-ranking states in its volume of high-tech start-ups founded by immigrants. California ranked highest at 38.8 percent.
Wadhwa said the study indicates that North Carolina is having trouble drawing and keeping skilled immigrants.
"Our state doesn't have its act together with immigration," Wadhwa said.
In Research Triangle Park along the Durham-Wake county line, immigrants founded 18.7 percent of high-tech startups. That compares with 52.4 percent in California's Silicon Valley.
Harvey Singh, an local entrepreneur from India, said future economic growth in the U.S. is going to come from high-tech companies.
In 2003, Singh founded Instancy, a Cary-based company that has grown to 65 employees. The firm, which provides Web-based content management and information sharing, was his fourth successful venture in the U.S.
Singh said RTP was remarkable in its pool of highly talented workers. He said the nearby universities and biotechnology firms give ample opportunities for collaboration among highly skilled workers.
"The area has all the ingredients needed to start up enterprising and high-tech ventures," Singh said.
But Singh, who has founded companies in Silicon Valley, said RTP struggles with a lack of early-stage funding for start-ups, an obstacle he faced at the outset of developing Instancy.
That, he said, could deter many innovators from staying in the area.
"We need a bigger effort to get companies off the ground," Singh said. "A lot of these entrepreneurs might end up moving away to places where they have better [start-up capital] like Boston or California." |