Then she saw an advertisement about the High-level Talent Intelligence Introduction Conference in Ningbo. It promised to cover the
travel costs of graduates coming from other places. So she gave it a
try.
The train from Fuzhou to Ningbo took about 10 hours. But the result came much earlier than expected. In less than two weeks, she received an
offer from Ningbo Women and Children’s Hospital.
“Their efficiency was really impressive,” said Wang, who is now vice head of the children’s gastroenterology department at the hospital.
“I only found out later that the person who interviewed me at the fair was the president of the hospital.”
The conference, initiated in 1999, has attracted over 60,000 people like Wang to work and stay in Ningbo over the past 20 years. And in 2006
it became part of the Ningbo Talent, Science and Technology Week.
This year, the talent week includes 16 major events targeting overseas returnees, academics, entrepreneurs and other high-end
professionals in specialized technological areas. Over 3,000 local
companies and institutions are offering more than 13,000 job
opportunities over the week, which ends today.
It is expected to attract more than 20,000 visitors.
In the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster Plan approved by the State Council in 2016, Ningbo is listed as an independent metropolitan area,
“a world-class port and a hub of international shipping and logistics
services,” together with four other regional centers including Nanjing,
Hangzhou, Hefei and Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou.
The competition for talent has been fierce so far. Since December last year, the Ningbo government has announced two measures under the
“3315 plan” to extend the scope of individuals and teams who can enjoy
preferential policies from the plan.According to these measures, a
start-up team which meets certain criteria and promises to stay in
Ningbo for at least 10 years can be funded with millions of yuan. If the
project is special enough, there is no funding limit.
“Ningbo has a large manufacturing output, larger than Hangzhou,” said Jin Yan, vice head of the Organization Department of the Ningbo
Committee of the Communist Party of China.
“The area that we are weaker in is the service industry. So this time nine new areas have been added to the plan, which include
e-commerce, shipping and logistics, finance and insurance, technology
services and modern farming, amongst others,” added Jin.
The “3315 plan” is first launched by the Ningbo government back in 2011. By the end of 2017, it had supported the establishment of 296
setups in Ningbo, bringing a total sales of 5.4 billion yuan and 860
million yuan (US$125 million) of profit and tax revenue in 2017 alone —
up 44 percent and 46 percent from a year earlier.
These companies are also bringing in the latest technology. In 2017, the total investment in research and development reached 640 million
yuan, with 889 new patents approved. The number of patents approved in
the six years from 2011 to 2017 is 4,126.
