One of the reasons the 18th century scientific revolution was so fruitful in europe was the culture of sharing, publishing & debating across a large, catchment

One of the reasons the 18th century scientific revolution was so fruitful in europe was the culture of sharing, publishing & debating across a large, catchment area. Instead of esoteric knowledge of mysterious origin, 18th century science produced de-mystified knowledge. This culture crossed language barriers, borders and such. Common cultural "hero's" of a scientific community (Newton, Copernicus..) helped a lot in developing this culture. One of the (related) reasons for US science/technology success in the 20th century was making that "empire of the mind" physical, in places like MIT. The wide catchment was achieved through migration. This was very obvious in the post war period, when scientists and technologists from everywhere came to these places. The Soviets also made use of their expanded talent catchment areas, and had some pretty impressive innovations at that time. China is now learning the power of inward migration. They are starting to open up and subsidize international students. I think political goals (eg Taiwanese students in China smoothing the path to unification) where the catalyst, but internationalizing the institutions themselves will be an inevitable side effect.