The results of the 13th "3551 Optics Valley Talent Schema" selection were announced on March 10, and a total of 300 entrepreneurial talents will receive the first round of funding worth 157 million yuan ($24.13 million).

The talent schema is a long-term talent introduction plan launched by East Lake High-tech Development Zone (Optics Valley of China) in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province.

Officials said that this batch's selection attracted the attention of 350,000 people, and among more than 1,000 applicants, 45.9 percent have a doctorate. Nearly 20 percent of them graduated from the world's top universities such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University and Nanyang Technological University.

The newly selected entrepreneurial talents will receive the first round of funding worth 500,000 yuan. According to their financing capacity and contributions to Optics Valley's economic and industrial growth, the talents will receive funding of up to 10 million yuan.

Meanwhile, world-leading talents can receive up to 100 million yuan.

In the past 12 years, Optics Valley has invested 2.68 billion yuan in talent introduction, gathering four Nobel laureates, 66 Chinese and foreign academicians and 79 key experts. A total of 2,273 people have been selected into the "3551 Optics Valley Talent Schema".