District releases new policies to attract top talent from overseas

Guangzhou Development District released eight policies on Aug 22 aimed at attracting high-profile professionals from overseas, further demonstrating the area's push to acquire the world's best talent, local officials said.

"We are more eager than ever to find talented people," said Xiong Weiguo, deputy chief of the district's policy research office.

He said the eight measures, including incentives such as financial support for projects, subsidies for high-profile professionals and bonuses for introducing new professionals, were issued in the context that a growing number of people are seeking business opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Xiong added that "talented professionals will form an important part of the high-quality growth of Guangzhou Development District".

The district will place special emphasis on both top scientists mastering core technologies in cutting-edge industries and entrepreneurs who can put the technologies into production, he said.

"Overseas professionals can be foreign citizens or Chinese experts and business leaders returning from other countries," Xiong explained.

According to local statistics, Guangzhou Development District, which is also known as Huangpu district and Guangzhou high-tech zone, is currently home to 730 high-profile professionals from the rest of Guangzhou city, Guangdong province and China.

The number ranks the district No 1 in Guangzhou.

Some of the projects there are founded by the nation's top scientists, including BeiGene established by renowned biologist Wang Xiaodong and Inno Care initiated by Shi Yigong, a famous biologist.

Xiong said these projects are leading local high-tech development and setting a good example for other professionals to follow.

The official said compared with previous policies, the new measures might look more attractive to the world's top scientists and high-tech entrepreneurs because of the amount of financial support they provide for projects.

The new policies allow for as much as 1.5 billion yuan ($210 million) to be allocated to teams of scientists and as much as 1 billion yuan to teams of entrepreneurs. The support can be offered in various forms including preferential loans, subsidies for research and development and equity investment.

In addition, for the first time subsidies can be granted to individuals. For instance, a high-profile professional can be awarded up to 1 million yuan in direct allowance and up to 10 million yuan in residence-purchasing subsidy. And they can receive an extra bonus of up to 500,000 yuan if they introduce other professionals to Guangzhou Development District.

Xiong said there will also be more foreign-language services offered by local medical institutions and government organizations.

The eight measures are the latest move by Guangzhou Development District after it released its "10 measures" in 2017, and preferential policies for attracting young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao in July.

With all these incentives in place, the local government expects to introduce one or two top-class research or high-tech entrepreneurship teams to the district, Xiong said.