Chongming announces new policies to attract top talent

Top talents can receive up to 1 million yuan (US$154,000) in subsidies if they join Chongming District’s efforts to build a world-class ecological island, according to the latest talent attraction policies released by the district.

According to the new plan, Chongming will attract 10 such “top-notch” professionals in five years.

Meanwhile, it also aims to attract and cultivate about 40 leading talent, 1,200 high-level talent and 8,800 skilled professionals, taking the total number of talent to over 84,000 in the district in five years.

There were 62,700 people employed as “talent” in Chongming by 2015, accounting for 9.22 percent of the local population, far below citywide average proportion of 30.86 percent.

Chongming lacked measures and platforms to attract and retain talent in the past, leading to a shortage, especially top talent, and it now wishes to break the deadlock with the new policies, local human resources authorities said.

The new policies were made based on the strategy to build a world ecological island and focus on missions such as promoting ecological quality, improving ecological habitation, perfecting public services and developing ecological industries.

The district plans to launch a “World-Class Ecological Island Chief Designer Program” to invite ecological top talent from all over the world to make plans for constructing the ecological island.

Other programs are also planned to employ scientists, engineers and counselors to solicit their wisdom in research and development of ecological technologies, ecological treatment, architecture and landscape design, as well as public promotion.

It will also invite top international talents to undertake key programs in planning and constructing the ecological island.

“Top-notch” talent who spend at least one month a year in Chongming on guiding or serving construction of ecological island will be granted up to 1 million yuan, while leading talent will receive 500,000 yuan.

These talent will be provided with high-end apartments and receive 4 and 2 million yuan respectively for housing purchase after they work and live in Chongming for five years.

Leading talent introduced via national or Shanghai’s “Thousand Talent Programs” into areas related to the world-class ecological island construction strategy will be divided into categories of “innovation” and “startup.” They will receive sponsorship, housing subsides and other financial support amounting to 4 and 5 million yuan respectively.

The authorities emphasized that construction of ecological island needs overseas innovative talents. Each of such individuals who bring technologies, programs or teams to Chongming will receive up to 300,000 yuan in sponsorship in three years, while the fund will go up to 600,000 yuan for teams.

Startups will also receive up to 1 million yuan and enjoy free workspace or get 30,000 yuan to rent a workplace.

The district will also explore ways to set up workstations for academicians and postdoctoral researchers in local enterprises and subsidize them to the tune of 500,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan respectively.

High-level talents employed in key areas, including agriculture, education, health, culture, sport, finance, tourism, construction, environmental protection and water affairs, will also receive a total of 200,000 yuan of subsidies for house rent and living expenses.

The district will also encourage native students to return to their hometown after graduating from universities and provide subsidies for them after they work in the district for five years, ranging from 60,000 to 150,000 yuan depending on their degrees.