The global competition to attract and retain top talent has become increasingly fierce in recent years as technological innovation, industrial advances and cross-border talent and knowledge flows accelerate.
China’s relative weak competitiveness in wooing global talent will hinder the country’s rapid economic growth and undermine its global economic impact. According to the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index report, jointly released by INSEAD, the Adecco Group and Google, China ranked 42nd and had an unsatisfactory performance in attracting talent and in vocational and technical skills.
Despite its large pool of human resources for science and technology, the structure of China’s talent pool is yet to be optimized to match with the country’s industrial upgrading and the uneven development between the eastern and western regions remains to be solved.
Rigid talent evaluation and incentive mechanisms in research institutes and businesses have resulted in a lack of vitality among talent. China has performed well in primary education, university rankings and enterprise training while it has much room for improvement in such areas as the enrollment rate of vocational training, lifelong learning and staff career development.
On the regional level, few regions in China have established databases for talent. Such databases could help local authorities analyze what kinds of talent their regions lack and how they can attract and retain the talent they need.
Almost all Chinese cities, regardless of their development goals, have offered such incentives as housing allowances and higher payments to people with a master’s degree or above, especially for those with overseas education and work experience.
However, a city should align its talent attraction strategy with the regional development strategy. That is, the talent it is trying to recruit should match its development needs and strategic objectives.
The establishment of an international talent big data platform could effectively solve these problems.
The platform should aggregate, store and analyze information about international talent by integrating such information from various entities — governments, businesses and international human resources intermediary service agencies.
The Global Talent Digital Portrait System established by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, with a database of 7 million global talents in such fields as science, engineering, agricultural technology and medical science, serves as a useful experiment in this area.
High-quality platforms should be leveraged to attract top global talent. Different regions should establish their own global talent attraction platforms suitable for their respective stage of development.
Regarding the construction of scientific research platforms, universities should accelerate the establishment of top-notch labs and research centers based on their own advantages to attract top scientific research personnel.
The newly established free trade zones across China, such as those in Shanghai, and Hainan and Guangdong provinces which have favorable policies, including all-round and high-quality services, could serve as a perfect platform for attracting top global talent.
A scientific talent attraction strategy should be formulated. Singapore has focused on innovative talents and entrepreneurs amid the country’s transition from being a traditional manufacturing powerhouse to an innovation-driven economy. London has formulated a list of urgently needed professionals based on the city’s most recent talent demands and has introduced classified management and incentives for the target professionals. Different Chinese cities and regions should formulate strategies based on their own resource endowment and development targets.
Vicious competition and hastiness should be avoided. Local governments should formulate detailed guidelines on the demand for global talent and standards for attracting such, and update the policies in a timely fashion.
Flexible policy support, a career- and family-friendly environment, good education and healthcare systems, and an open and vibrant environment for startups and innovation will be important factors.
China could thus work on the following areas to create a more favorable work and living environment.
Speedy, convenient and diversified visa policies are needed. To attract top-notch scientists, research personnel and mathematicians, London implemented corresponding express visa schemes in February 2020. Singapore released the Singapore Entrepreneur Pass.
It is critical to create a favorable environment for innovative and entrepreneurial talent. Cities should strengthen their cultural development in this regard.
A multilayer, diversified policy system should be established to lure not only top global talent but talent of all trades, at all levels.
The author is a professor with the School of Management at Fudan University and director of the Global Scientific and Innovation Talent Development Research Center. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.