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“Looks like the funding support can reach up to tens of millions, that’s quite substantial.” “I visited Nanjing during my undergraduate years and had a great impression.” “Highly recommend! Nanjing is reliable!” On July 20th, the Nanjing stop of the 2024 “Overseas Elite Students’ Jiangsu Tour” was held. Forty outstanding overseas PhD and master’s graduates from Oxford, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and Cambridge gathered in Nanjing to visit research institutes and enterprise parks, bond with alumni, and discuss development with local government and business representatives.
This event was hosted by the Jiangsu Western Retuned Scholars Association, the United Front Work Department and the Talent Office of the Nanjing Municipal Committee, and organized by the Nanjing Western Retuned Scholars Association and the Jianye District Committee Organization Department. During the event, the promotional video “Nanjing i-Talent Policy Package” was shown, Jianye District introduced its innovation and entrepreneurship policies, and representatives from overseas elite schools shared their experiences. Subsequently, the overseas talents were divided into two groups to visit the Jiangbei New Area and the Chilin Science and Technology Innovation Park, where they conducted on-site inspections of the startup district, the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Nanjing Institute of InforSuperHahn, the Nanjing Institute of Software Technology, and the AiRiA.
“The collaboration among industries, universities and research institutions is outstanding!” Zhao Simiao, a PhD student in AI pharmaceuticals at Oxford University, said while taking notes. He told reporters that he is focusing on stem cell aging and is working with his team on a pet longevity startup project. Through the event, he learned about many of Nanjing’s strong industry talent policies and connected with a venture capital firm on-site. “We had a great conversation, and I could clearly feel that they understood what tech entrepreneurs need and were very knowledgeable about commercialization, industrial chains, and policy support.”
“We are definitely setting up in Jiangsu. Firstly, the industrial chain here is very complete. Secondly, I am from Taizhou and did my undergraduate studies in Nanjing, so starting a business in my hometown is a natural choice,” said Ding Shenghuan, who specializes in new ceramic processes and is currently focusing on innovative ceramic sintering processes to empower solid-state battery production. His short-term plan is to return to Jiangsu to start his business after completing his PhD, hoping to establish a parent company in Nanjing.
At the event, two alumni representatives who have started businesses in Nanjing took on the role of “recommenders” to share their personal experiences and insights on innovation and entrepreneurship with the current students.
“A few years ago, our company faced a cooling financing environment right when we needed to accelerate our development. The government led the investment and helped us achieve a breakthrough. The initial entrepreneurship support from the government was also crucial. Now, the policies for startups are even better,” said Yuan Fang, who started his postdoctoral work at the School of Medicine of Stanford University and founded Nanjing F&S Pharmatech Co., Ltd. in 2015. The company has broken through original research patent barriers with several innovative drugs, allowing patients to access equivalent and affordable innovative medications legally.
Yuan Fang used the words “real, reliable, and big carrot” to recommend Nanjing to the elite overseas students and shared his personal entrepreneurial secrets: “Entering the ESG era, the consensus on ‘returning to the real economy’ across the country is the greatest opportunity for our generation of entrepreneurs. Trust, understand, and support each other with the local government, and share in both honor and disgrace.”
Li Zhe, a professor at the School of Modern Engineering and Applied Sciences at Nanjing University and a PhD supervisor, has been conducting basic research at Nanjing University since returning to China in 2015. “The scientific atmosphere is excellent. There is ample experimental space, and the startup funding is well-matched by various units. In terms of living, Nanjing offers tiered Zijinshan Talent Cards, providing benefits such as high-end annual health checkups, park annual passes, metro cards, housekeeping cards, and parent-child science cards. These are all things I have personally experienced and can attest to the comprehensive care and support.” Li Zhe said that he often recommends Nanjing to others and has successfully encouraged two junior fellows to return to China and join Nanjing University for research.
In recent years, Nanjing has implemented the principle of party control over talents, maintained a comprehensive view and a broad perspective on talents, deeply implemented the strategy of strengthening the city with talents in the new era, seized the opportunity as a national pilot city for scientific and technological talent evaluation reform, continuously amplified the brand effect of Nanjing Talent Day, increased investment in talent, empowered employment entities, and implemented reforms such as recommending talents, rewarding scientific contributions, and long-term support for young talents to enhance talent attraction competitiveness. The city currently has 96 full-time academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 125 academicians from China and abroad engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship, 1.0076 million university students, and a total of 551,400 high-skilled talents. The introduction of high-level talents has shown significant results, with Nanjing leading in the number of high-skilled talents, and young talents emerging competitively, ranking sixth in the attractiveness of post-95 talents among Chinese cities.
