A team of the 2nd Global Contest of Innovation in Smart Manufacturing from Ningbo, Zhejiang province goes to Los Angeles, the United States to hunt for advanced talents and projects in March, 2018. [Photo/zjscwl.cn]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province is targeting overseas talents for its development in science and technologies.

The city recently promoted three innovation and startup contests abroad to select potential individuals and projects worldwide.

In the middle of March, the 2nd Global Contest of Innovation in Smart Manufacturing China Hemudu successfully organized its North America Trial in Los Angeles, the United States. Four projects selected from 35 candidates will compete with others at the finals in May in Yuyao, a county-level city in Ningbo.

There was also a contest on life sciences at the University of Tokyo to hunt for talented professionals there.

The 5th Global New Material Startups Contest got started on March 30 and will go to Berlin in Germany and Lyons in France for global projects and talents.

High-level talents from home and abroad are always considered an important driving force for the industrial upgrading. Since the beginning of 2018, Ningbo has comprehensively upgraded its programs and platforms for talents and endeavored to create a friendly environment for innovation and startups by promoting the matchmaking between talents and industries, and introducing more professional powers.

In addition, Ningbo has set up incubators for startups in overseas cities such as Tokyo in Japan, Munich in Germany and Haifa in Israel.