Genom att titta på vilka som söker patent för uppfinningar i Tyskland finner studien ”Immigrants’ Contribution to Innovativeness: Evidence from a Non-Selective Immigration Country” följande:

Our results suggest a positive and statistically significant impact of Polish immigration on the number of inventors in Germany. Some of these migrants became inventors themselves: Counties that received 10 percent more Polish immigrants than other counties experienced a 0.28 percent higher number of Polish inventors. This effect size is quite small but still one-tenth of what was found for high-skilled immigration in the United States. The spillovers from Polish migrants to inventors of German nationality have a slightly higher point estimate … and, in contrast to the results for the United States, are statistically significant. We conclude that some Polish immigrants are inventors, but that a greater number of them are – independent of their qualification level – complements to incumbent inventors in Germany.

Många som i Storbritannien röstade för Brexit verkar ha gjort på grundval av ett ogillande av EU-migranter. Att försvåra för dessa kan ha konsekvenser för graden av innovation i ekonomin.