2025.02.23

"Next, we will adopt targeted and unconventional measures to attract more 'golden phoenixes' with a sincere 'olive branch'," said Zhang Linri, Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Committee Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Bureau, during a statement in Shenzhen.

On that day, the Shenzhen Municipal Government held a press conference themed "Creating the Best Ecological Environment for Technological Innovation and Talent Development." The heads of the Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Bureau, the Municipal Talent Work Bureau, and the Director of the Municipal Artificial Intelligence Industry Office were all present. They took turns explaining to the media Shenzhen's practices and plans in attracting and retaining talent and promoting scientific and technological innovation.

According to Zhang Lin, Shenzhen is committed to attracting and nurturing talent with an open and inclusive approach. The city currently boasts a total talent pool of millions, including tens of thousands of high-level talents and hundreds of thousands of skilled professionals. For two consecutive years, Shenzhen has ranked first in the "China City Talent Attractiveness Ranking."

Luo Bing, a member of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee's Organization Department and Director of the Municipal Talent Work Bureau, summarized Shenzhen's practices and achievements in creating a talent development environment with "five assurances." The first is career assurance. Shenzhen provides full-cycle, accompanying services for talents in start-up enterprises. The city has over a certain number of enterprises incubated in its innovation parks and over a certain number of projects in incubation in its Hong Kong and Macao youth innovation and entrepreneurship bases. The municipal government has established an angel mother fund and a talent innovation and entrepreneurship fund, with a scale of billions of yuan, and has invested in a certain number of projects.

Secondly, seamless mobility. Shenzhen has pioneered the establishment of a Foreign Employment and Residence Affairs Service Center nationwide, and has piloted the Greater Bay Area Talent Visa, with the annual issuance volume leading among cities in the Greater Bay Area.

The third aspect is ensuring a worry-free living environment. As early as [year], Shenzhen pioneered the public welfare project "Youth Station" nationwide, offering three major services to fresh graduates: free accommodation for [number] days, employment guidance, and city integration. Additionally, the city provides rental and home purchase subsidies for key talents. By the end of [year], over [number] units of affordable housing had been allocated to various talents, and nearly [number] housing units had been sold to families of talents.

Fourth, a worry-free life. Since the beginning of the year, the city has cumulatively added 10,000 new basic education places, ranking first among cities nationwide in terms of growth, effectively meeting the enrollment needs of the school-age population in this megacity. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the cumulative investment in health and medical financial funds exceeded 100 billion yuan, with the total number of community health institutions reaching 1,000, and the "15-minute community health circle" network continuously improving.

Fifth is hassle-free application. Shenzhen has launched the "Efficient Handling of Talent Introduction and Household Registration as One Thing," becoming the first in the country to achieve full online processing, allowing people to become Shenzhen residents in as fast as minutes without leaving their homes.

Luo Bing stated that Shenzhen will next upgrade and release a "policy package" including Top Talent Gathering, Enterprise Talent Gathering, Innovation Talent Gathering, and Youth Talent Gathering. The city will implement the "Talent Scout Award" more vigorously, introduce recruitment incentives for small and medium-sized technology enterprises, encourage the whole society to recruit more and higher-caliber talents, and fully stimulate innovation and creativity.

Zhang Lin also stated that Shenzhen will adopt "targeted unconventional measures" to introduce policies for innovative and entrepreneurial young talents, optimize the implementation of existing policies, and vigorously launch a new batch of measures including talent evaluation, direct recognition of top talents, a list of key industry shortage positions, and talent commendation incentives to attract more talents to develop in Shenzhen. Among these, in terms of talent housing, Shenzhen will formulate more targeted housing security policies, "providing a bed, a room, or even a set of housing services for talents employed or starting businesses in Shenzhen."

At the press conference, Zhang Lin, on behalf of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, presented the first policy "red envelope" to young talents—extending the number of days of free accommodation provided for fresh graduates coming to Shenzhen for job hunting from days to days.

Currently, several cities in China have introduced free accommodation policies for fresh college graduates seeking jobs. These policies generally offer short-term free stays in government-provided talent apartments or hotels, and for longer stays, job seekers may need to cover utility costs. A search of publicly available information by a First Financial reporter revealed that, in addition to Shenzhen, cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Zhuhai, Ganzhou, and the Guian New District in Guiyang have also implemented "free stay" policies, with durations ranging from days to a year.