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Return Migrants as Knowledge Brokers and Institutional Innovators: New Theoretical Conceptualisations and the Example of Poland

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Return Migration and Regional Development in Europe

Part of the book series: New Geographies of Europe ((NGE))

Abstract

The impact of high-skilled return migrants on the economic development of various regions has been paid increasing scientific attention in recent years. This is no surprise, as knowledge is most important for the economic competitiveness and innovative capacity of nations, regions and firms, and hence competition for the most talented people develops. But until now research in migration studies often has not differentiated between various kinds of knowledge and their respective influence on innovation processes and economic development—topics that have been discussed thoroughly in economic geography in recent years (Ibert 2007; Balland et al. 2015). Yet the role of migration for knowledge transfer has only played a minor role in economic geography to date. Taking into account the pivotal role of knowledge for innovation and economic growth, as well as the rising importance of international migration processes it is perhaps surprising that knowledge transfer via international migration has up to now been widely neglected in geographical and migration research (Williams 2009).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to Bourdieu (1983), cultural capital can appear in three forms: first, as embodied cultural capital, which involves knowledge and competences, ways of thinking and behaviour pattern as well as norms and values. Second, as objectified cultural capital, comprising explicit or material objects, such as books or scientific instruments. The third form of cultural capital, institutionalized cultural capital, consists of institutional recognition, most often in the form of academic credentials or qualifications, of the cultural capital held by an individual.

  2. 2.

    See especially the discussion on transnational social spaces (Faist 2008; Glick Schiller et al. 1997; Pries 1996) and the co-development approach by Nyberg-Sørensen et al. (2002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Bonn University, Bonn, Germany

    Katrin Klein-Hitpaß

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  1. Katrin Klein-Hitpaß
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Correspondence to Katrin Klein-Hitpaß .

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  1. Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany

    Robert Nadler

  2. University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

    Zoltán Kovács

  3. Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Chemnitz, Germany

    Birgit Glorius

  4. Chemnitz University of Technology, Leipzig, Germany

    Thilo Lang

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Klein-Hitpaß, K. (2016). Return Migrants as Knowledge Brokers and Institutional Innovators: New Theoretical Conceptualisations and the Example of Poland. In: Nadler, R., Kovács, Z., Glorius, B., Lang, T. (eds) Return Migration and Regional Development in Europe. New Geographies of Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57509-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57509-8_3

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