Overseas talent harbor to open in Beijing

Construction of the Capital Overseas Talent Harbor (COTH) will start in Aug, and is expected to finish by the end of 2019.

COTH is a pilot project to deepen reform and opening up founded by the China Overseas-educated Scholarship Development Foundation (COSDF) with the support of specialists of national ministries and overseas talents.

The Foundation established an International Talent Port Research Group in early 2013. The first demonstration zone of COTH was located at Chaoyang district, Beijing in December 2017.

Directed by its core concepts of “talent leadership, intelligence innovation, ecology-friendly, mutual benefit”, its emphasis is on building “one harbor three parks” – the Capital Overseas Talent Harbor, International Talent Industry Park, International Financial Service Park, and International Frontier Technical Service Park.

It intends to become a "soft port" through which international and domestic talents can come and go freely, and a transfer station for innovative resources at home and abroad.

COTH will make effective and efficient connections between talent and capital, technology, and industrial culture.

With the globe entering a new technical industrial revolution, talents are highly valued as key in innovation. Gathering talents is an obvious and important part of many national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Beijing has an urgent need of talents from China and abroad. As reported by China Regional International Talent Competitiveness Report 2017, China’s overseas talents ratio is far below the world average. Much lower is the average percentage of people working in high-tech, financial, and cultural industries.

Thus, building of the harbor requires overseas talents to be drawn at a fast pace, an important measure in development of an innovative country and open economy.