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According to a new study released on Wednesday, more than 1/3^rd innovators in the technology sector of America are foreigners, according to Phsy.org.

35.5% US innovators are made up of immigrants. The innovators in the study have been defined as people who make "meaningful and marketable innovations" to industries that are non-technology related conducted by Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank. Other 10% innovators were born in US but at least one of their parent is born out of the country, said the study.

"People may think technological innovation is driven by precocious college dropouts at startup companies, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg," said researcher Adams Nager, one of the authors.

"In reality, America's innovators are far more likely to be immigrants with advanced degrees who have paid their dues through years of work in large companies."

According to the report, one stereotype in the tech industry proved to be true that women and US-born minorities did not get a fair share of representation in the tech space. The study also discovered that US-born minorities such as - Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics etc., made up 8% of the innovators, even though they make up 32% of the country's population, reports Fortune.

The study authors said that there is a need for flexible immigration policy so that the country can boost STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - fields. "We need policies to strengthen and expand the immigration pipeline that allows highly trained STEM workers to innovate in the United States, including foreign STEM graduates of US colleges and universities who often have a hard time staying legally," the report said.

ITIF president Robert Atkinson said the report also showed "it is very clear that we need to do a much better job enabling women and minorities to earn STEM degrees," as reported by NDTV.