Crossing the Bridge - March 2015
New Models of Brain Circulation
Half-time in the US and Half-time in Turkey --Is this a real possibility?
by Nilay Papila
We are very well aware that “brain drain” is one of the main obstacles for developing countries such as Turkey since through brain drain; a country looses its scientists, engineers, or other intellectual elites to a more developed country. "Reverse brain drain/Brain gain" occurs if these professionals return to their home country after several years of experience to start a business, work and/or teach at a university in their home country. Over the last decades, governments have attempted to reverse the flow of brain drain through implementing new contracts, scholarships, government policies, and several other methods. There are three most common approaches of implementing reverse brain drain through governments: (1) Retaining their students, (2) Encouraging students to pursue tertiary studies abroad and promoting them to return, and (3) Engaging with the diasporas , which will encourage expatriates to remit savings; act as bridges for foreign investment; trade and facilitate the transfer of skills and knowledge. There are several countries that are prime examples of implementing these three methods, some of them being China, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Mexico and South Africa.
"Brain circulation" is known as the extended definition of “ brain gain ”, with an emphasis on human capital circulation across nations in the global market, benefiting both the sending and receiving nations; in addition, it is considered a two-way flow of skill, capital, and technology, unlike brain drain and reverse brain drain.
Turkey is in the transition of developing its own model for “reverse brain drain”. Some of the actions taken are summarized below:
EU-funded research projects (such as Marie S. Curie Reintegration Grants) in Turkey are helping the country retain talent. Young researchers, who might be tempted to look for a career abroad, find that they can contribute at an even higher level by staying at home and participating in exciting projects. They still get to travel, work with specialists in other European countries, and make important private sector contacts. During 7th Framework program (2007-2014) Turkey won 204 Marie Curie Career Reintegration Grants and 10 Marie Curie Incoming Fellowships brought 214 scientists back to Turkey (http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/documents/funded-projects/statistics/non-eu/marie-curie-actions-country-fiche-tr_en.pdf ).
In addition to EU funds, TUBITAK initiated new reintegration grant programs to encourage young researchers to come back their home country and as a result, more than 83 fellowships provided by TUBITAK BİDEB between 2012 and 2014 (http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/tr/duyuru/tersine-beyin-gocu-programi-2014-yili-yenilikleri ).
Turkish government started appointing “Scientific Ambassadors” in the US, EU and Japan in 2014 and we hope that they will function as national liaison offices to provide assistance to the needs of Turkish scientific diaspora.
However, as most of the countries has already realized, concentrating on brain circulation instead of reversing brain drain is more crucial. Since, with ‘brain circulation’, intellectual elites return to their home country on a regular or occasional basis, sharing the benefits of the skills and resources they have acquired while living and working abroad. An example of the benefits for the host countries, especially for developing countries, is the payments of remittances . This provides a reason for governments to issue new legislation and tax rules that encourage outward migration and remittances.
While constructing a functional bridge between the scientists/researchers in the US and Turkey, we should consider a two-way flow of skill, capital, and technology and focus on brain circulation rather than reverse brain drain as it is a more preferable option among the Turkish Science Diaspora in the US.
Below two new models, which can be implemented to achieve a two-way flow of skill, capital, and technology and enhance brain circulation between the US and Turkey, are proposed:
Using EU funds to facilitate brain circulation: The grants of European Research Council (ERC) perfectly match for this purpose as it allows scientists to be outside of Europe for 50% of their time. This means, for example, a professor in the US can apply for this grant and may receive up to 3 Million Euros for 5 years to set up its team and lab in Turkey for 50% of his/her time while still keeping its position in the US. Although this is a very competitive grant with a success rate of less than 15%, it is highly possible to benefit from these actions once well prepared. Here, it must be noted that in addition to EU’s fund, TUBITAK provides a generous award (personal) for the ERC grant winners up to 150 K Euros (http://www.h2020.org.tr/tr/content/h2020-destek-ve-odul-programlari). If you are interested in applying, you may contact us for more information.
Extending entrepreneurship activities to Turkey: Turkey received over 26.3 Million Euros (+ 18.3 Million Euros) in 2015 under Technology Transfer Accelerator Turkey (TTA Turkey) call (http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/resources/tta/index.htm) to invest in innovative products and these funds will be spent in Turkey in 10 years. The TTA Turkey) is an initiative designed by the European Investment Fund (EIF). TTA aims at achieving two objectives: (i) setting-up a financially sustainable fund by facilitating the commercialization of scientific research and development (R&D) confined in universities and research centers; and (ii) catalyzing development of the technology transfer market in Turkey, with a particular emphasis on spill-overs to the less developed/developing regions of Turkey. The project will encourage the commercialization of R&D, which is an underserved value chain in Turkey, lacking private investment. Therefore, there can’t be a better timing for extending your current entrepreneurship activities to Turkey. Especially, if you have a prototype ready to commercialize, you should consider starting up a branch of your company in Turkey to benefit from these funds.
We hope you find this informative, interesting and useful and can contribute to these efforts of connecting two continents in most effective way.