The South China tech hub of Shenzhen has launched a three-year pilot program to attract high-level foreign talent, including top scientists and entrepreneurs, to help turn it into a global technology and innovation powerhouse.
The program includes a set of standards implemented Tuesday to certify urgently needed high-end foreign talent in Shenzhen, the country’s pioneer of reform and opening-up in the southern province of Guangdong, according to a notice (link in Chinese) issued by the city government.
Based on national rules to attract high-end talent from abroad, the Shenzhen standards include elements tailored to local needs, the notice said. For instance, people who win the top three prizes in the finals of the China (Shenzhen) Innovation and Entrepreneurship International Competition qualify for certification.
Other high-end talents mentioned by the standards include Nobel Prize nominees, startup founders who own intellectual property rights, academicians from international sciences and engineering academies, as well as chief scientists or key members of any major international science or engineering project.
Foreign nationals in Shenzhen can apply for certification via their employers, who will submit the applications online, and wait five days until the local science and technology innovation commission issues a confirmation letter.