Government needs to reform policies to encourage foreign-born talent to stay in Philly: Stephen Tang and Rob Wonderling

Stephen Tang, president of the University City Science Center.

Philadelphia is losing talent to other countries because of the country’s restrictive visa policies, said University City Science Center President Stephen Tang and Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce President Rob Wonderling.

It’s a less-talked-about part of the brain drain conversation, but it exists. That’s why the Congressional conversation about immigration reform is involving a STEM pipeline and an entrepreneurship viewpoint.

Said Tang and Wonderling in a an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer about how to grow innovation in Philadelphia:

We need city, state, and federal support for policies that encourage the retention of foreign-born graduate students in the United States, particularly those engaged in research in STEM areas, and facilitate the growth of start-up companies by immigrant entrepreneurs.

Read the whole editorial here.