A Systematic Review of Science, Technology, and Innovation Impact of Scientific Diasporas and the role of Foreign Missions

The quest for international talents contributes to the rise of brain drain, hence, the existence of the scientific diaspora. Skilled immigrants possess the capacity to contribute solutions to national and global crises. This systematic review aims to show the empirical evidence of scientific diaspora impact, indicators to measure impact, the sustainability model(s), and the role of foreign missions and embassies in harnessing the potential of the scientific diaspora. A total of 31 publications retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), ScienceDirect and Scopus were included in the literature review. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology was used in the study. The findings show that the scientific diasporas have made significant contributions to the revolutionizing of STI development in the nations that were able to develop strategic approaches to harnessing their skills. The empirical evidence and the role of the embassies were categorized into five different themes. The formation of the scientific diaspora is bottom-up or top-down which has some deduced implications for their sustainability after analysing it from five different models of government engagement. No established indicator exists in measuring the STI impact delivered by the scientific diaspora. Keywords; Scientific diaspora, embassy, science, technology, innovation, sustainability