"East, West, South, North and Center, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Come to Guangdong!" Guangdong is gradually building its solid talent pyramid system, led by academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in various fields of sci-tech innovation, with millions of scientific research and technical personnel as the backbone, together forming the powerful driving force of Guangdong's technological innovation. Behind this is Guangdong's efforts to attract talent by continuously deepening reforms to untie technology talents and solving their worries.
The top layer of Guangdong's talent pyramid consists of academicians from the "two academies." Currently, there are 193 full-time academicians in Guangdong. "Academicians can be said to stand at the pinnacle of the scientific research pyramid; they are leaders in technological innovation across various fields and can both lead local technological industry innovation and drive the gathering of high-level talents and projects," said Gao Tianming, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Southern Medical University. The significant increase in the number of academicians is attributed to its economic foundation, research capabilities, and flexible policy support.
Fully Devoted to Research, Granted Greater "Voice"
The backbone of Guangdong's talent pyramid is a vast research team. Currently, there are 1.35 million R&D personnel in Guangdong Province, ranking first nationwide. The total professional technical talent in the province is close to 10 million, with nearly a million being high-level talents. These researchers constitute an essential supporting force behind Guangdong's technological innovation.
Liao Kuangbiao, born in the '90s, returned to China after completing a Ph.D. at an Ivy League University in the United States. He is currently engaged in the research of artificial intelligence and chemistry interdisciplinary at the Guangzhou National Laboratory. He is also the founder of Guangzhou Biaozhi Future Science and Technology Co., Ltd, a company focusing on the fusion of AI and chemistry, using data-driven technology to promote innovation in the chemical field. "Cities in Guangdong provide a great degree of freedom and respect for technology talents," said Liao Kuangbiao. "The government and various liaison personnel respect us greatly and provide numerous conveniences in life and work, allowing us to devote ourselves fully to scientific research."
Respect for researchers is reflected in granting greater "voice." The "Guangdong Province Science and Technology Innovation Regulations," effective from October 1, explicitly propose granting sci-tech talents greater decision-making power in technical routes, control over funding, and the ability to allocate resources. The regulations particularly mention that researchers, besides conducting basic research, can also achieve technological innovation through industrialization. Employers should provide necessary starting funds, instruments, equipment, venues, and research assistants for sci-tech talents.
Education Arrangements for Children, Ensuring Hong Kong Talents' Itinerant Ease
"When we bring in some high-level talents, the first question they ask is not about research topics, but where their children can attend school, and whether their spouse can find a job in Dongguan," said Chen Dongmin, Executive Deputy Director of the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory. "Creating new productive forces requires talent. Attracting talent requires a series of supporting measures including education, health, and transportation for assurance. Guangdong has realized this and provides comprehensive policy support."
"We moved the whole family to Zhongshan!" said Hong Kong youth Pan Honghui, who was born in Foshan, grew up in Hong Kong, and studied in the U.S., decided to return to China to develop a decade ago. From a startup with only a few employees, his company has grown into a rapidly growing global biotechnology company. Pan Honghui credits this to the well-established sci-tech support policies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which provided a platform for displaying talent while solving concerns of living and work.
In 2018, Pan Honghui founded Zhongshan Kang Tiansheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. He chose Zhongshan because it is close to Macao and Hong Kong, which helps with global business development. Another reason is that after the Greater Bay Area rose as a national development strategy, various sci-tech and talent support policies have been fully implemented. "I have enjoyed the convenience of talent apartments and housing allowance subsidies here. There are also detailed arrangements for the education of introduced talents' children, which indeed solve many practical difficulties for newcomers."
Pan Honghui told the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po reporter that Guangdong provides convenience measures for sci-tech talents that involve all aspects of work and life. Now he has medical insurance in the mainland and, as a Hong Kong resident, he can directly apply for a mainland driving license. His children can also enjoy convenient travel between Guangdong and Hong Kong frequently, ensuring no worries for daily life.
Various Talent Subsidy Policies Encourage Young People to Engage in Research
In Guangdong, there are many high-level talents like Pan Honghui, who consider it "worthwhile to invest" here. In recent years, Guangdong has set up a high-level talent service zone in Guangdong Province, integrating the functions of 20 departments to provide 26 "one-stop" government services for domestic and foreign high-level talents working in Guangdong, focusing on building talent service guarantee systems such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Talent Port, and fully promoting the Guangdong Province Talent Optimus Card policy implementation, providing fine-grained services for talents in the entire chain.
Over the past decade, the number of R&D personnel in Guangdong has grown from 652,400 in 2013 to 1.35 million in 2023, staying first nationwide, with continuously increasing tech innovation vitality. The proportion of researchers aged 45 and below in Guangdong provincial science and technology progress award projects has reached 50%, with a continuous emergence of young sci-tech talents.
Chen Maoqiang, co-founder of Guangzhou Yunqu Information Technology Co., Ltd, also an outstanding software talent in Guangzhou and an expert in the think tank of the Guangdong Artificial Intelligence Industry Association, pointed out that this has a direct relationship with the professional qualification examinations and government subsidy systems in the mainland. The mainland's policies on the training and encouragement of sci-tech talents are relatively complete, not only providing career development paths such as professional title examinations but also offering subsidies to talents who reach corresponding levels, encouraging many young people to engage in the research field.
Ensured Settlement and Living, Guangzhou to Establish International Talent Communities
The grand construction blueprint of Guangdong's talent hub is not only widely covering various industrial fields horizontally but also breakthrough upwards and rooted downwards vertically. Upwards, Guangdong actively extends olive branches to high-level talents globally, enhancing the gathering effect of international talents; downwards, Guangdong fully plays the leading role of high-level talents to promote their rooting at the grassroots, driving more local talent growth, forming a vertically connected talent ladder.
The recently announced "Guangzhou Vitality Innovation Axis Master Plan" specifically proposes building 10 youth talent communities, 11 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao or international talent communities, and 5 scientist communities aiming for youth and talent-friendly goals, actively constructing comprehensive, customized, high-quality services throughout the entire cycle for various talents to settle, live, work, conduct research, and promote, to maximize the innovation and entrepreneurship vitality of talents. For top international and Hong Kong-Macao sci-tech talents, it will focus on meeting needs such as convenient entry and exit, research funding (including tax exemptions on cross-border research fiscal funds), and team support, accelerating the construction of international communities.