Eric Leclerc

KNOWLEDGE DIASPORAS FOR DEVELOPMENT

This paper deals with the contribution of diaspora knowledge networks to the development of home countries as a major potential brain gain. Although some questions were recently raised about the consistency, viability and efficiency of the diaspora option, the latest studies tend to validate its role in the development of knowledge intensive activities at home. The Asian experience (China and India), the current expansion of their highly skilled expatriate associations, their real intensity of activity as well as their responsiveness to policy factors, confirm the diaspora option. The case of the development of the Information Technology industry in India demonstrates the active involvement of the diaspora. Its integration into the global market has gone far beyond the sole effect of reputation enhancer, a minimal positive role often attributed to the diaspora. In fact, the active role of the Indian diaspora, a creative mediator rather than a passive intermediary in these processes, has changed strategic balance and geopolicy. The diaspora factor is indeed part of the knowledge transfer to the Indian IT industry that helps it to move up on the value chain. The circulation exemplified by diasporas justifies shifting from binary/dichotomical explanations (host versus home countries benefits), to the analysis of mediation processes at work in non-zero sum game analysis.