Emulating the best to bring in experts

Chengdu high-tech zone implements preferential policies for those businesses and professionals moving in

Ten new policies released by the Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone on Oct 18 aim to support and attract global professionals to start up businesses and innovate in the area, officials at the zone said.

According to the policies, the zone will earmark 5 billion yuan ($739 million) in the next five years to support professionals worldwide, hoping the investment will attract 10,000 professionals during the period.

Gan Lijun, chief at the zone's personnel, labor and social security bureau, said the zone had studied the similar policies of 11 other high-tech zones, including Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing and Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone in Shanghai, as well as the city of Shenzhen before formulating its own.

The Chengdu high-tech zone's policies include those encouraging sustainable innovation, supporting professionals' investment and financing, helping startups expand the market and improving services provided to professionals.

"The strengthening of policy support and establishing a system with competitive advantages is a prominent trait of the plan," Gan said, adding that the zone's annual special fund for professionals has doubled with the new policies.

The policies cover the zone's leading industries and sectors for improving human life, such as new-generation information technology, advanced equipment manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection.

Gan said professionals have helped in the zone's development and six projects involved in the policies will make it possible for more brilliant people to realize their dreams in the Chengdu high-tech zone.

International competition for professionals has become more fierce, insiders said, adding that the immigration system of the United States welcomes brilliant people, with half of the startups' chiefs in the Silicon Valley being foreigners.

Singapore has a national headhunter called Contact Singapore acting as a go-between for local employers and global professionals, according to the website of Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao.

The Chengdu high-tech zone hopes the policies can help it to overcome challenges brought by professional employment competition.

According to the policies, professionals who have worked on innovation and entrepreneurship in the zone for more than five years, and who bring to the zone significant economic and social benefits are eligible to get a reward of up to 2 million yuan.

The zone also plans to provide excellent people with more convenient services in health care, housing, residency and startup support. It will offer those who are involved in high-tech professional projects a free apartment for three years.

Local education authorities will build schools in the zone to provide children of the professionals an excellent education.

The new policies made it clear that the zone should attract noted human resource companies and would provide a decoration subsidy of up to 3 million yuan to such companies.

Third-party organizations, including human resource agencies and professional societies that assist the zone in attracting high-level professionals and their teams, are eligible for a reward of up to 2 million yuan.

Training projects that companies launch with the help of human resource organizations are eligible for a subsidy of up to 300,000 yuan.

The policies also help startups to expand national and international marketing in ways such as subsidizing exhibition participation fees. It is possible for companies attending international, national and regional expositions and trade fairs to get a subsidy of up to 1 million yuan.

The Chengdu high-tech zone is home to some 256,000 professionals. Among these, 219 are involved in a "one-thousand professionals" program organized by Sichuan province, where the zone is seated, for attracting and supporting brilliant people, accounting for 37 percent of the total in the province.

The zone has earmarked 310 million yuan in special funds for professionals this year. Within that amount, 200 million yuan are to be used to reward special high-level professionals and 45.5 million yuan will be offered to startup projects.

Brilliant people have brought their advanced technologies and achievements to start companies in the zone. High-tech enterprises established in the zone include Alltech Medical Systems, which provides medical imaging products and solutions, and HitGen Ltd, a life science company.

The scientific and technological fruits of professionals in the zone, including an advanced 3-D blood vessel bio-printer, have made important contributions to the development of leading sectors in the zone, local media reported.

Despite the rising number of professionals in the zone, there are some problems such as insufficient cooperation among professionals, officials at the zone said.

To help to solve the problems, the Chengdu High-tech Talent Development Promotion Association was set up in September. The association plans to organize activities such as industrial discussion meetings to integrate resources and help companies in the zone to cooperate.

Choosing a place to innovate and start companies is a major life choice for an individual. For a country, it is about core resource competition that decides the fate of its innovative development, Gan said.

She added that the zone will improve services offered to its high-level professional residents through talent development organizations and make them feel at home.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/27/2016 page19)