Organisations are also responding to the emergence of a reverse brain drain that is increasingly forcing educated Westerners to look for skilled work in Asia, or with Asian companies in their home countries.

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To do this, they need to reverse the brain drain into foreign outfits or offshore-services firms.

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South Africa needs to do more to reverse its brain drain, and train more researchers to boost their ranks.

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One achievement of which Mazumdar-Shaw is particularly proud is helping to reverse India's brain drain of scientists.

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But the hard reality is that few emerging markets have any hope, in the foreseeable future, of creating the type and volume of economic opportunities needed to reverse or even substantially slow the brain drain.

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