Migrants play an important role in transferring knowledge and resources across organizations and borders, which in turn affects the rate of innovation of those who remain at home. However, research on how migrants influence the direction of innovation of their non-migrant peers is limited: How does exposure to a migrant affect non-migrants’ research agendas? Does it shift their focus toward or away from locally-relevant issues? In the context of South-South migration of female scientists, we compare the disease orientation of non-migrants' research output before and after the migration of a peer against a control group of non-migrants whose peers applied for, but did not receive, a fellowship for foreign study. We document that non-migrants publish more after their peers migrate, and their relative rate of publication in diseases that are highly prevalent in both home and host countries increases. Our results suggest that migrants can broker access to knowledge and collaborations that can increase their home country peers' focus on shared problems. This study underscores how bridging networks of knowledge workers can enhance and direct innovation on pressing problems.
