Through improving recruitment policies, Yunnan Province has been attracting more and more high-caliber experts from around the world. It is planned that the province’s overseas talent pool will double, increasing from 3,500 in 2015 to 7,000 by 2020.

During the twelfth Five-Year Plan, Yunnan has retained 4,975 foreign experts, twice as many as the previous half-decade period. These experts mainly come from the US, Germany, Japan, Australia, Singapore and other developed countries. Over 60 percent of them have PhD degrees.

Excellent foreign expert awards have been set up to recognize the achievements these people make. So far, some 150 experts have received awards. Also, a new plan was launched this year, with plans to recruit around 100 top experts from abroad in the coming five years.

In 2016, events such as talent exchange workshops were organized in Yunnan and attended by 460 overseas experts from some 50 think tanks or institutions from 40 countries worldwide. These resulted in the successful introduction of 160 first-class overseas experts. In the meantime, Yunnan signed cooperation MOUs with 25 international introduction or educational institutions to better foster and attract experts in the fields of bio-pharmaceuticals, financial management, modern agricultural practices and information technology.