Songjiang offers incentives, attracting overseas students and new innovative start-ups

Yu Jiahui began his career in the G60 High-tech Corridor in Songjiang District. "The work atmosphere here is very good with many young people my age. What I'm doing is also in line with what I've studied," said the graduate from George Washington University, USA, who found the job as a product manager assistant with China snacks leader Lyfen in 2021.

With the construction and expansion of the G60 corridor, more young talent like Yu, who have overseas study experience, choose to settle down, embark on their careers, and build a new life in this technology innovation hub that is influencing the entire Yangtze River Delta region.

"In recent years, we have received an increasing number of resumes from overseas students," said He Zhenxiong, manager from Lyfen's HR Department. "It might be related to our group's rapid development, but what's more important is Songjiang's strong support for the talent recruitment project that offers young people an open and free environment of opportunities, growth potential and preferential policies."

Statistics show that the high-tech corridor stretching across nine cities along the G60 Highway has been a magnet for all sorts of talent, attracting 11.9 million people with specialized skills, around 1,000 national-level professionals, 652 academician workstations and 913 post-doctoral stations.

Lu Wen'er, a co-founder of Shanghai Zhuoxin, a Songjiang-based medical technology company, was a graduate from Tsinghua University and in 2013 he received a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He then became a visiting scientist at the Harvard University-MIT School of Medical Science and Technology.

Lu returned to China in 2017 and served as the senior director of Shanghai MicroPort Medical Group. Three years later, he moved to Songjiang, joined Zhuoxin and started his own career.

The company today has built its own "digital and intelligent" surgical equipment platform based on surgical robots, 3D imaging machines, AI navigation and other advanced technologies. It owns more than 200 intellectual property rights and set up collaborations with over 40 Grade-A hospitals to develop dozens of intelligent medical devices.

"What we want to achieve is to make high-quality medical resources affordable to ordinary people," Lu said, adding that he's found his niche in Songjiang to fulfill the ambition.

Li Yinuo has also carved out his business kingdom in Songjiang. The graduate of Computer Science and Media Arts from the University of New South Wales, Australia, founded Shanghai Brain Technology in 2019. The company offers health management, safety assurance and life assistance service systems for the elderly through big data platform SaaS, the Internet of Things and AI technical support.

"The reason I chose Songjiang is because I'm very optimistic about the district's future," Li said. "From the perspective of industry outlook and resource support, the G60 corridor can provide a relatively complete industrial chain for the company's development, because it's attracting a large number of enterprises and talent to settle in."

The war for talent is not only for firms, but also for regions, cities and countries, which are using various recruiting approaches to land the little available talent.

After Songjiang Human Resources Center learned Li planned to settle his company in the district in 2020, the center called him immediately and sent an officer to provide him on-site help on application materials that were pre-checked on the spot. The entire process was approved within six work days, the shortest time, after submission.

"Now I'm a new Songjianger, and I'll be part of the district's future development," he said.

Li Yubo / Ti Gong

Li Ye, financial manager from Homag Machinery, also marveled at the "Songjiang speed." With the newly launched favorable policy to young people working in Songjiang, she submitted the application online, passed the preliminary check, review and public notice and finally got a Shanghai hukou (registered permanent residence) in one month, which she might have waited at least two years for without the new policy.

"Songjiang is an ideal place to live and work," she said. "It has cultural relics and natural scenery, traditional lifestyle and a rapid work pace. I really feel attached to the district."

Last November Songjiang unveiled its Start-up Business Park for the G60 High-tech Corridor for Overseas Students, an incubation hub for young talent with an international vision, pioneering entrepreneurship and innovative spirit.

The first phase of the park, located in Lingang Songjiang Science and Technology City, will be recruiting overseas students with their start-up business mainly in integrated circuitry, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, new materials, new energy and smart security – all key industries the G60 corridor is incubating.

Preferential policies are offered to those people, including different levels of subsidies, bonus, housing allowances, priority in receiving a Shanghai hukou and other incentives.

Hejing Tianyuan in the G60 corridor is a neighbourhood with fully furnished apartments for Songjiang talent. "I also enjoy a 2,500-yuan (US$368) monthly rent subsidy, which is a great relief for me," newcomer Shi Yuting from Henan Province said. "I've made new friends who come from all over the world, and we help each other and live like a big family."

At the same time, the district is setting up special funds for overseas students to encourage entrepreneurship. Companies with overseas students settling in the G60 corridor will be given lump-sum bonuses, interest subsidy funds and other financial support once they've met certain criteria. For the especially outstanding innovative enterprises or projects, the "case by case" preferential policies could also be tailor-made.

Boosted by the G60 corridor, Songjiang is home to young people aiming to build their business empire.

By the end of 2021, the number of graduates with domestic or overseas master degrees who settled down in Songjiang New City accounted for 42 percent of the total number of Shanghai's "five new cities" (Lingang/Nanhui, Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang and Fengxian). From January to October last year, 655 overseas students chose Songjiang to start their businesses, ranking highest among the "five new cities."

"The G60 High-tech Corridor is sharing opportunities and creating the future with the world's talent in a more open manner," said an official with the Songjiang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

"We welcome with the greatest sincerity, the most complete supporting facilities and the biggest stage for overseas students to chase their dreams, show their talent and take root in Songjiang."