Taizhou's offshore innovation centers boost talent retention, R&D

Xinghua (Nanjing) Innovation Center. [Photo/WeChat account:tzfabu]

Taizhou in Jiangsu has faced challenges with insufficient local innovation resources and retaining high-level talent. Since 2022, the city has established 18 offshore innovation centers in regions rich in scientific and technological resources such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Nanjing.

These centers have formed close partnerships with 64 universities and research institutions, including Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Jiangnan University, and the National Innovation Center par Excellence. They have successfully attracted 164 projects and brought together over 1,800 researchers. Talent recruited by these projects benefits from competitive local salaries while also enjoying Taizhou's talent policies.

In addition to the innovation centers, Taizhou is actively building accelerators to support offshore projects with services like pilot testing, sample production, data simulation, application scenarios, and process improvements. The city has also provided low-interest credit loans totaling 28 million yuan ($3.86 million) to accelerate project development.

The impact of these offshore innovation centers is becoming increasingly apparent. Recently, a full-grain soy milk project began operations at the Xinghua (Wuxi) Offshore Innovation Center. This project, which is being implemented in three phases with a total investment of 100 million yuan, is expected to achieve annual sales of 500 million yuan.

Song Minggan, the project leader, expressed optimism about the future, saying, "With the support of industry experts for product development, the business services at the offshore innovation center, and the backing from the Xinghua Economic Development Zone, I am confident about our prospects."