Qingdao city home to over 30 top talents

A picture shows the Qingdao International Academic Park, Licang District, Qingdao, Shandong Province, which is now home to more than 30 top-level academics from home and abroad. [Photo: provided to China Plus]

The city of Qingdao's Licang District has an interesting quirk.

It is now home to more than 30 top academics all living together in one community. It is one of the few locations across China that gathers so many academics in such a close proximity. Xu Fei takes a closer look.

Near Binhai Avenue and Ocean University of China, is an easy-going quiet neighbourhood.

It is composed of 26 multi-storey office buildings and three high-rises. Today it is home to over 30 top scientists including Yuan Longping, dubbed the "father of hybrid rice" and Wang Yutian, an expert in neuroscience.

Wang Xijing is an official in charge of Licang District's affairs in the city of Qingdao. He says that a cursory glance at the academic area belies the humble beginnings of the neighbourhood's past.

"Licang district is located in the center of Qingdao city. Despite the advantages in geographic location, the district's economic strength is ranked as one of the three worst-performing among all the districts in Qingdao."

In order to reverse the trend, local district authorities devised a plan to attract more international talent.

It took less than two months to complete the first phase of this transformation project.

In addition to a flexible use of indoor space within the buildings, the area also features a refreshing garden-like area.

On the basis of a transformed environment, local authorities moved toward attracting top notch international talent.

Wang Xijing explains again:

"We studied the preferential policies nationwide focusing on how other areas in China attract academics. Based on our studies, we made our own policies in an effort to cultivate and nurture that talent, providing financial assistance of at least 20 million yuan."

Once this was in place, the district officials contracted several academics both at home and abroad. Li Wenwen is the deputy director of administrative office for the academics' area.

"First, we set up a library of scholarly information. We decided that the five core areas for our industrial development included bio-medicine, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, as well as high-end designs. We then mobilized all our resources to reach out to the experts in these five areas by visiting their students, relatives and friends. At the news of any conference or any school anniversary celebrations, we would send our people there. That's how we reached the very first batch of academics."

Wang Yutian is a world famous neuroscientist, and lifelong lecturer at UBC University's Brain Research Center. He has received many awards from the Canadian government.

His research team boasts the world's leading scientific research capabilities. They developed new drugs which will be used to help treat drug addiction, Alzheimer's disease, and help stroke victims.

The academic, Wang Yutian, explains how he decided to settle down in Qingdao

"I have been engaging in fundamental research during which I produced a lot of new drugs. I was considering ways to make these drugs available as soon as possible on the market. So I've been to many cities including Wenzhou, Suzhou, and Wuxi, and all these places hoped to provide a home for us. Later, the administrators of Qingdao's academic area approached me, showing that they could offer a much better environment for me and my research team. I decided to come over and take a look."

Li Wenwen recalls how they felt encouraged by Wang Yutian's arrival, but they also needed a careful evaluation of the feasibility of Wang's project.

"On one hand, we attached importance to his arrival. The district's leaders met with him. On the other hand, we had no idea how cutting edge his project would be in this particular area, so we invited some experts from Beijing to evaluate his program. We hadn't made up our mind until a report provided by Beijing-based experts convinced us of its potential."

On his behalf, Wang Yutian disclosed that the efficiency of Licang District allowed them to move in for work.

"It took only a bit over one week from our talk, to the expert's appraisal process and finally to our settlement. I was excited to find out that the place is home to experts from all around the world all with different expertise. These experts gathering in a new place can lead to new ideas and new breakthroughs."

Wang Yutian and his research team, were very excited upon moving in.

Yan Yi is a core member in Wang's new drug development program.

"It's my first visit to Qingdao and our research team was still pretty new. In a sense we are strangers to this city. The administrative office provided us with a lot of assistance starting from the launch of our company to office decorations. They also helped by making sure we had the basic necessities like food, clothing, housing and transportation. They would come to us as soon as we called them in order to help tackle issues."

In light of Wang Yutian's settling in this area, a number of academics made an inspection visit.

Yuan Longping is one of them. Later in October 2016, the "father of hybrid rice" moved to live in Qingdao's academic residential areas. This led to the launch of a Qingdao sea rice research and development center in May this year.

The center focuses on the scientific research on breeding salt tolerance in rice, super hybrid rice and high-level light absorption in rice.

The new industry and new technologies are now taking shape in Qingdao, propping up a new model of economic development that helps to uplift the Licang district.

Finally, Yuan Longping revealed that if all goes smoothly, the first generation of sea rice will be able to come out in November 2017.

"I hope my dream comes true by 2020."

For CRI, I'm Xu Fei.