Ningbo to lure overseas talents
Last year, 10 engineers from Sweden, Italy, Germany, South Korea and Japan came to settle their careers down in Zhenhai, a district of Ningbo city.
The 10 engineers, responding to the city’s policy to attract talents from overseas, have been contributing their technological achievements to this coastal city in East China’s Zhejiang province. A total of 44 key technological innovations have been achieved among which 25 have applied for patents.
They are among the thousands of overseas talents that the city of Ningbo had lured to equip its upgrading industries with advanced technology.
Last year, Ningbo had attracted 947 talents from overseas, growing by 88.7 percent year-on-year. By the end of 2012, 3,499 overseas talents have started 455 companies in Ningbo. Last year, total sales revenue reached 10.3 billion yuan ($1.67 billion).
Yang Liping, director of Ningbo Municipal Organization Department, said that the rapid increasing number of overseas talents coming to Ningbo is a positive reflection of the city’s determination.
“Innovation is the driving force of Ningbo’s economic development, while talents are pillars to this driver. Ningbo is aimed at becoming a modernized international portal city, and talents should play important roles to help us making this dream come true,” said Yang.
Starting from May, 2011, the city releases a series of preferential policies to attract overseas talents to start business in Ningbo. For individuals who are qualified for the policies, the municipal government will grant 1 million yuan as starting fund for business. Teams will be granted 20 million yuan each. Also, tax refund policies are provided. Chen Qiang, deputy executive president of Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, said that the policy, compared with ones offered by other cities in China, is very attractive to overseas talents. The institute have been organizing four rounds of tour to introduce Zhejiang province to talents from overseas.
Yang said he is hoping that the coming of talents in advanced fields can help improve the city’s development in respective industries.
“One such talent to Ningbo will bring at least a whole team to start business. This team will cultivate a group of innovative talents here and solve a series of technological problems. This group of people will lead the future trend of an emerging industry,” he said.
And it is so.
Yao Qianjun is an expert in integrated circuits who was president of Asian region of Honeywell International, a fortune 500 company. In 2005, Yao came to Ningbo and established Ningbo Konfoong Materials with experts from the United States and Japan as its core research team members.
The company is in possession of the most advanced technologies in several fields of the integrated circuit industry with 241 patents applied.
Before the company, materials of such product in China totally relied on importing from countries like Japan and the US. Now, the company’s products are sold to companies including IBM, Intel and Toshiba.
Last year, its sales revenue reached 1.29 trillion yuan, and will go public this year.
As the coming of the talents brought advantages to Ningbo and its economic development, the cooperation has also offered the talents some benefits they desired for.
For those who have already come to Ningbo from their successful overseas careers and homes and start business from zero, the preferential policies did not only offered them capital to start business, but also an opportunity to make their dreams come true.
Bao Haiming started Zhejiang ECO-WASTE Technology Co in 2005 in Ningbo. As master of environmental management graduated from York University, Bao has made up his mind to make a difference of China’s environment by establishing a company.
He used to start business elsewhere, but ended up in failure, then he came to Ningbo as candidate of the city’s talent attracting program.
“The program made me feel that our country has high expectations toward us that it hopes overseas graduates like me can pick up some strategic industries,” said Bao.
Bao’s company, focusing on waste incineration, develops fast in these years. Last year, the company’s sales revenue hit 80 million yuan. It has planned to go public by 2015.
“There is no waste in the world, they have only been put in the wrong place. The waste incineration field has a bright future and I think I am born to be a businessman. The opportunity in Ningbo just fits everything,” he said.
Instead of sitting and waiting for talents to come to Ningbo, the city is every active in promoting its programs. Promotional activities are regularly held in countries including the US and Germany. Yang said the first step of introducing Ningbo to these talents is to let them feel the sincerity of the city. “We want them to feel that coming to Ningbo is a good choice to take care of both their careers and their lives. So we are establishing a Home, House, Health system to support them,” he said. A total of 1,857 apartments are provided to these talents with low prices. Education programs for their children and healthcare policies are also offered.
“Once they feel Ningbo is their home, they will devote their whole energy into business,” he said.