Shanghai to recognize more overseas qualifications

Chinese and expat professionals holding certain overseas occupational qualifications will be prioritized in receiving support, including obtaining work permits and adequate housing in Shanghai, in the latest effort announced by the city on Wednesday to attract talent from around the world to further boost its vitality.

Eighty-five qualifications were included in the Shanghai List of Recognized Overseas Occupational Qualifications unveiled at the Third Shanghai Talent+ Summit.

"Shanghai will continue to unveil policies that may even be more favorable than some overseas to help talent thrive and prosper," said Wu Qing, vice-mayor of Shanghai.

Forty-eight qualifications from the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the fields of financial management, next-generation information technology, biomedicine, high-end manufacturing, architecture and engineering that echo with Shanghai's pillar industries for development were deemed in category A.The holders can have access to a set of support measures around talent introduction.

Another 15 qualifications, such as a fellow with the Association for Computing Machinery, a fellow with the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK, and a fellow with the Royal Aeronautical Society in the UK, were deemed in category B, and the holders will enjoy benefits in working conditions.

Twenty-two other qualifications were deemed in category C, and the holders can acquire corresponding professional titles in China directly if they contribute to innovations and start businesses in Shanghai.

The municipality introduced a package of premium services for global outstanding talent working full time in Shanghai on Wednesday. Such talent will have access to high-end, tailored services in settling and adequate housing, among others.

Applicants must possess internationally recognized professional achievements in the technological field, or make innovations or start businesses in Shanghai with internationally leading technological achievements or industry recognized investment and financial strength. In other cases, they must work in important positions at internationally renowned companies or first-class technology-based enterprises and institutions.

A sub-forum focusing on venture capital investment attracted more than 500 investors and representatives from unicorns — startups valued at more than $1 billion — from home and abroad.

"With a strong industrial foundation, abundant talent resources and a mature financial market, Shanghai has some of the best soil for cultivating unicorn enterprises in scientific and technological fields. The city will continue to build a law-based business environment complying with international practice and optimize services for enterprises to encourage their further innovations," said Zhang Wei, head of the organization department of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization, said that the city aims to achieve competitive results and generate a batch of innovative enterprises and leading talent in future-oriented industries, including in the fields of health, intelligence, energy, space and materials.

"The city aspires to form a number of world-leading future-oriented industrial clusters and become an important force leading the global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation," he said.