Often, with tech CEOs, we quickly get to a sobering discussion about how to scale, and that is when I hear how hiring world-class talent is one of their biggest challenges. They struggle to find, attract and retain the engineering, scientific and technical talent they need to grow their businesses and be competitive in the global economy.

As 2015 dawns, we find ourselves in one of the most dynamic periods of innovation in recent memory. I meet entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world who amaze me with their passion and determination to build sustainable businesses.

Often, with tech CEOs, we quickly get to a sobering discussion about how to scale, and that is when I hear how hiring world-class talent is one of their biggest challenges. They struggle to find, attract and retain the engineering, scientific and technical talent they need to grow their businesses and be competitive in the global economy.

With corporate venturing groups rivalling the number of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, and an increase in angel investors, we hear about this talent issue not just from entrepreneurs and CEOs, but their investors as well. Building great companies is a team sport.

To serve the growth needs of technology-related companies and their investors, the US innovation sector needs high-skilled immigration reform more than ever. Education and retraining will help, eventually, but new companies are forming every day that will not survive, let alone thrive, without skilled, experienced engineers and computer scientists.

The executive order recently outlined by President Barack Obama to expand work authorisation for high-skilled workers in line for a green card and enhance options for foreign-born entrepreneurs is a positive step. We also urge the new Congress to act to pass a permanent solution to these issues.

Annually, Silicon Valley Bank conducts a survey of innovation company leaders on the opportunities and challenges affecting their ability to grow and therefore create jobs. In 2014, the majority (76%) of US innovation companies that participated in the survey said they would be hiring, while nearly all (91%) said it was challenging to find the workers they needed to grow their business, and 61% said it was because it was a struggle to find people with the right skills, education and experience. About 62% of respondents were looking for individuals with science, technology, engineering or maths skills, and our 2013 survey revealed that nearly half (46%) of the survey respondents had at least one founder born outside the US.

To our clients, who represent some of the most innovative and fastest-growing companies in the world, this is not an immigration problem. It is a talent problem. We are supportive of those policies that will help increase the probability of our clients’ success, whether that is in the form of immigration reforms, education reforms, or other business solutions like the technology startup retraining programme in which we invested this year called Startup Institute. Considering the ripple effect that successful, high-growth innovation companies have on our economy, it is just good business sense to make it easier for them to succeed.

High-growth, small companies, while few in number, have an outsized impact on the US economy. They consume roughly 0.1% to 0.2% of US gross domestic product (GDP) in invested capital, but create roughly 11% of US private sector employment and 21% of US GDP – or roughly 12 million jobs and over $3 trillion in annual revenues.

We have been sharing our data and our clients’ stories with leaders in Washington for several years. Political affiliation aside, we are glad we are finally seeing movement in a positive direction on behalf of high-skilled workers. It is time to get through this talent hurdle, so innovators can get to work solving some of the worlds’ biggest problems affecting people’s humanity, health, and the environment.