DiasporaLink: Diaspora Entrepreneurship as a Development Link between Home and Residence is an exchange project among 25 universities and research institutes representing the European Union, America, Africa and Asia, and is reaching its final stages. Its main goal is to research, evaluate and facilitate transnational diaspora entrepreneurship (TDE), and includes the creation of a global university network of research in this field.

The project, which lasts four years (February 2015 - February 2019), is funded by the European Commission in the framework of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) programme within Horizon 2020. It involves participation by UPF through Ricard Zapata-Barrero, full professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences and director of GRITIM-UPF, and principal investigator of the project at the University.

A special edition in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Ricard Zapata-Barrero explains that along with Sharhamak Rezaei, a researcher at the University of Rosklide (Denmark), the institution that is coordinating DiasporaLink, he has just published a special issue in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS), the highest-impact journal in the field of migration studies.

“This special issue of the JEMS is the result of the close, interdisciplinary relationship between academics in migration studies, as is my case, and in business studies, like Sharhamak Rezaei. We have all worked together and shared the importance of articulating a new trend with a clear potential for public benefit: transnational migrant entrepreneurs”, says Ricard Zapata-Barrero.

“Entrepreneurial activities by transnational migrants may be a major factor for mutual development and may even help to open new avenues of diplomatic relations”.

According to the UPF researcher, the goal of the publication, coinciding with the end of the DiasporaLink project, is “to explore a new pattern that may influence how the governments of recipient countries and the governments of source countries perceive migrants. Entrepreneurial activities by transnational migrants may be a major factor for mutual development and may even help to open new avenues of diplomatic relations”.

In the introduction of the special edition, the two editors highlight that transnational entrepreneurs (TE) are immigrants who are engaged in cross-border activities that involve their countries of origin and of destination.  ”Advances in technology related to cheaper, more affordable transport and communication have enabled TE to have a greater social, political and economic influence in their countries of origin”. “The social and cultural capital acquired by new generations of immigrants can be a great resource to establish economic and political relations with the countries of origin”, says Ricard Zapata-Barrero.

A new field of research for exploring

According to the editors, so far the research in this field had always been carried out in the framework of the countries of residence, without taking the country of origin into account as an agent influencing the spread of the new migration pattern or as the main beneficiary of its effects. “TEs can contribute to social development, to creating new cultural values and influencing in political spheres and agendas, as well as the democratization of their countries of origin. We must go beyond the economic aspects that have so far marked the agenda of the debate, focused mainly on the money that migrants send back to their countries. This is a potential new paradigm that must be carefully explored”.

“The incorporation of transnational entrepreneurs as a new dependent variable in migration studies that is not theorized”

In this sense, the incorporation of TE as a new dependent variable in migration studies that is not theorized. “We need to perform a lot of research in this area, based on maximizing the multidisciplinary, multimethodological nature of studies of migration in order to fully understand the complexities of TE in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world”, say the editors.

An introduction and eight articles to analyse an emerging global social pattern

The special issue of JEMS, entitled “Diaspora governance and transnational entrepreneurship: the rise of an emerging social global pattern in migration studies”, includes an introduction and eight articles signed by leading researchers belonging to the main partners of the DiasporaLink Project. These works analyse transnational entrepreneurship as a specific attribute of the globalization process, linked to increased human mobility and a specific economic dimension.

“In Catalonia everything remains to be thought and designed in this field”.

Among the articles is one written by Ricard Zapata-Barrero together with Zenia Hellgren, both GRITIM-UPF researchers which focuses on the potential of Moroccans living abroad through policies of diaspora, in which they evaluate the factors of success and failure of a new structure to provide opportunities to transnational entrepreneurs.

According to Ricard Zapata Barrero, “In Catalonia everything remains to be thought and designed in this field”. “The way how Morocco is refocusing its policy on diaspora still has many assumptions and gaps in approaches that should be explored in more detail to provide truly adequate political architecture that gives opportunities to young Moroccans in Catalonia with entrepreneurial potential”, concludes the director of GRITIM-UPF and one of the main promoters of this study.

Reference works:

Ricard Zapata-Barrero and Shahamak Rezaei (February 2019). “Diaspora governance and transnational entrepreneurship: the rise of an emerging social global pattern in migration studies.” Special Issue, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1559990.

Ricard Zapata-Barrero and Zenia Hellgren (February 2019). “Harnessing the potential of Moroccans living abroad through diaspora policies? Assessing the factors of success and failure of a new structure of opportunities for transnational entrepreneurs.” Special Issue on: ”Diaspora governance and transnational entrepreneurship: The rise of an emerging global social pattern in migration studies”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1559997.