Chengdu, Home of Giant Pandas Invite Foreign Talent to Become "Golden Pandas"

CHENGDU, China, Dec. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The giant panda is known as a national treasure in China and renowned as a "friendship ambassador" to China. In Chengdu, the hometown of the pandas, there is a world-class science and technology zone equivalent to Silicon Valley in the US and Sophia Antipolis in France - the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone (CDHT). Today, the city plays a vital role along the "Belt and Road" and the Silk Road Economic Belt, while Chengdu Hi-tech Development Zone has become a magnet for high-level talents from across the globe. Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has assembled more than 482,000 talent of all sorts and attracted Nobel Prize laureates such as J. Michael Bishop and Jack W. Szostak to carry out their innovative and entrepreneurial endeavors.

Talented individuals are considered "treasures akin to the giant pandas" in Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone and thus in December 2017 the "Golden Panda" talent plan was initiated: By 2025, Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone will be positioned as a hub for global flow of talent, and every year no less than USD 100 million will be allocated for the recruitment of talent from around the world. Meanwhile, the city of Chengdu also unveiled the 12 policies, such as "green card for talent" in July this year, attracting top talent to Chengdu within the short span of just five months.

The "Golden Panda" talent plan is comprised of beneficial policies involving 12 agendas such as introduction of talent, support for innovation and entrepreneurship platforms, investment and financing aids, overseas talent, offshore innovation and entrepreneurship assistance, and accommodation assurance for human resources. At present, more than ten industrial development funds totaling over RMB 100 billion have already been set up in Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone.

In addition, one-stop service is also provided by Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone for overseas talent in areas such as household registration, healthcare, residence status and application of entry and exit documents. Other efforts are also noteworthy, for instance, 18 "Offshore Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base for Overseas Talent" has been founded in countries like the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany; based on human resources requirements in primary industries in Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, a total of 27 "Tianfu Talent Recruitment-Overseas Trips" have been organized for enterprises; and construction for the International Talent City, an entity that provides full-spectrum agent services for high-level domestic and foreign talent engaged in innovative and entrepreneurial undertakings, has been completed.

Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, as one of the six hi-tech industrial zones in China, is confirmed and promoted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of PRC to become a "world-class industrial park" alongside others like Zhong Guan Cun in Beijing, Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in Shanghai and the Shenzhen Hi-tech Industrial Park (SHIP); it is also the permanent host of the EU-China Business & Technology Cooperation Fair, which has already been held in the Zone for 12 consecutive sessions. By 2016, Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has boasted a per capita GDP exceeding USD 30,000, more than a thousand foreign-funded enterprises including over a hundred Fortune Global 500 corporations like Intel, GlobalFoundries and Maersk, and total trade amounting to approximately USD 23 billion. In April 2017, Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone was confirmed as one of Pilot Free Trade Zones in China.

Other than a continuously rising level of activeness in foreign trade, the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has also partnered with Singapore and Cuba in the establishment of international collaboration projects such as the Singapore-Sichuan Hi-tech Innovation Park and China-Cuba Biotech Industry Park, while plans are under way for strategic cooperation with industrial parks in Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Sofia, Bangalore and other regions worldwide to jointly establish internationalized entrepreneurial services platform that incorporates consulting, training, funding and incubation in one. Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, the most vibrant locale in the "home of pandas," will soon become the shiniest "pearl" along the "Belt and Road".

SOURCE Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone