Shanghai’s Pudong New Area is exploring how to attract the brightest minds from all over the world and fully utilize their expertise as it is accelerating its pace in building itself into a pioneer area for socialist modernization. 

Over the past 10 years, Pudong New Area has been regarding talents as primary resources and has been creating a hotspot for global innovators and entrepreneurs. The area has taken the lead in implementing a more open and convenient talent introduction policy, building a high-level talent platform system, and creating a high-quality talent ecological system.

A more internationally competitive talent system

According to a guideline jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council last year, China will support the high-level reform and opening-up of Pudong New Area to build it into a pioneer area for socialist modernization. The guideline proposed that Pudong New Area should establish a "through train" system for the introduction of global high-end talents, and take the lead in implementing a more open and convenient talent introduction policy.

In the past 10 years, Pudong New Area has continuously innovated its talent system, successively introduced a series of favorable talent policies, and created many nationally pioneering reforms.

In 2017, Pudong New Area relaxed restrictions on the employment of foreign students. Tyler Paul Rhorick, an American who graduated from New York University Shanghai, became the first foreigner to obtain a work permit in China after receiving his bachelor’s degree.

In the same year, thanks to the "through train" system of permanent residence recommendation in the free trade zone, Zhou Hong, general manager of Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals China and a German national, applied to the Administrative Committee of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone for a permanent residence card and obtained the district's first permanent residence ID card for overseas talents. 

With the deepening of reform, new talent policies have been continuously introduced. In 2018, Pudong New Area piloted approving the establishment of technology-based enterprises with permanent residence permits and issued the first batch of business licenses for science and technology enterprises registered with permanent residence ID cards in China.

In 2020, Pudong once again took the lead in issuing work permits to foreign entrepreneurial talents, and two Japanese experts introduced by an entrepreneurship incubator in Shanghai were among the first batch of foreign entrepreneurial talents to receive the permits.

In addition, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Shanghai Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs) and the Shanghai Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have worked together to pioneer the Fast Pass on Foreign Talents Remuneration Foreign Exchange and more than 200 people have been offered a "fast pass" for business processing through cross-departmental cooperation.

More favorable policies for talents to settle in Pudong New Area were also introduced. In 2019, Pudong New Area became the first urban district in China to undertake the approval of household registration in megacities. In 2020, Zhangjiang Science City launched a preferential policy for shortening the period of transferring a residence permit to another permanent residence.

Based on the evaluation of skilled workers, in 2021, Pudong New Area took the lead in establishing a senior professional title evaluation committee for the biomedicine sector, and the first batch of 71 professional and technical talents won the title of senior engineer. In the same year, the first batch of six enterprises in Pudong New Area was approved as independent vocational skill level recognition institutions.

In order to relax the restrictions on the employment of overseas professional talents, Pudong New Area issued the first batch of overseas vocational qualification certificate recognition list and shortage list at the beginning of this year, providing convenient services such as work permits and settlement options for certificate holders. 

The talent policies and internationally competitive talent system are becoming a key innovation driver for Pudong to attract and retain talents.

A higher-level talent service platform system 

Pudong New Area’s six major industries of big data, new energy vehicles, chip-making, smart manufacturing, biomedicine and civil aviation provide a broad stage for talents to start careers and their own businesses.

In the past 10 years, Pudong New Area has created a higher-level and more professional talent service platform system through its innovative incubation system, public science and technology service system, science and technology investment and financing system and intellectual property protection system.

In 2015, the offshore innovation and entrepreneurship base for overseas talents in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was officially put into operation. Up to now, the base has served as an international comprehensive entrepreneurial platform for overseas talents, and has served a total of 1,827 overseas entrepreneurial projects. Nearly 10,000 talents from all over the world have participated in a series of overseas talent entrepreneurship activities, which have been held for six consecutive years.

The Pudong International Talent Hub opened in 2019 and provides functional platforms including public talent services, human resources services, talent innovation and entrepreneurship services, and online talent services. It also took the lead in exploring the "single window" and "one-stop online service" platforms for approval services.

The facility is a high-level talent service complex and human resources allocation hub. It not only gathers internationally renowned human resources institutions to carry out talent brand activities such as the Pudong International Talent Port Forum and the Global University Alumni Science and Technology Innovation Competition, but also links innovation and entrepreneurship resources in an all-round way, and cooperates with China (Pudong) Intellectual Property Protection Center, Yangtze River Delta Capital Market Service Base, Yangtze River Delta National Technology Innovation Center, Large Enterprise Open Innovation Center and other professional platforms to provide life-cycle support and promote opportunities for talents to achieve their dreams in the area. So far, it has served more than 300,000 talents at home and abroad.

In 2021, the talent platform has been expanded. Pudong New Area launched postdoctoral innovation practice bases for the first time, and the first batch of 12 units was approved, signaling that Pudong New Area is steadily developing its postdoctoral training system.

A higher-quality living environment for talents

A high-quality humanistic living environment, research and development environment, innovative development environment, and business environment are as important as a first-class office for attracting and retaining talents.

In order to let more talents experience Pudong New Area's vibrant, diverse and humanistic urban ecology, Pudong New Area has vigorously developed international communities, talent apartments, international schools, international hospitals and large-scale cultural and sports facilities over the past 10 years, and the area’s supporting services for talents’ livelihoods continue to improve.

In 2014, Wellington College International Shanghai, an international school, opened. At present, Pudong New Area has introduced 13 international schools.

In 2019, Pudong New Area’s Zhangjiang town took the lead in building rural talent apartments, and continues to explore transforming idle rural homestead houses into talent apartments.

In 2021, Pudong New Area completed Shanghai's first rental housing project - Zhangjiang Nashi International Community - which provides young talents in Zhangjiang Science City with fully-furnished housing facilities. At present, the number of housing units for talents in the area has grown to more than 70,000.

Pudong New Area’s next step is to become a pioneer area for international talent development as Shanghai strives to become a high-caliber talent hub. The area plans to actively build a system-integrated talent policy system, continue to create a favorable environment in which people with talent are easily identified, well valued and respected, and fully display their talent, optimize the comprehensive environment for talent development in an all-round way, and provide better support and guarantees for talents at home and abroad to innovate, start their own businesses, and live comfortably in the area.