Jiangmen makes tech pitch in Silicon Valley

A delegation from the South China city of Jiangmen met with local entrepreneurs and mayors in Silicon Valley on Wednesday with the goal of attracting talent, investment and innovation cooperation.

The group of 17 government officials and entrepreneurs and their US counterparts shared ideas on best practices along with experiences in innovation and entrepreneurship at the "2015 Silicon Valley-Shenzhen-Jiangmen Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum" held by US-Asia Innovation Gateway, a non-profit corporation committed to advancing economic opportunities and investment between Asia and the US.

"The forum had been held in Shenzhen in October, and it is held in Silicon Valley today with project promotion and a road show to encourage talent to settle down their projects back in China," said Lam Yee Lung, head of the delegation and chairman of the Jiangmen Returnees Development Association.

Lam, also chairman and CEO of Grand Tech Group Ltd, brought his company's two projects - intelligence equipment and life health management - and looked to recruit a data team for the two projects.

Wang Junming, science and technology counselor at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, said Jiangmen, as a key manufacturing city, and Silicon Valley, as a center of technological innovation, had great potential for cooperation.

"It is the best time ever (for cooperation) as Silicon Valley is the center of global innovation and entrepreneurship with rich resources in talents, capital and technology, while China has offered a series of preferential policies and incentives to attract talent to China," he said.

Jiangmen, Guangdong province, a prefecture-level city of 4.5 million in the western part of the Pearl River Delta, is a key national economic center. The city has stepped up efforts to attract talent and highly skilled professionals in recent years with policies and incentives such as a "green service" channel of zero charges - concessions on land use and plant construction - and special support funds.

During the forum, the Jiangmen Returnees Development Association also announced the opening of two offices in Silicon Valley - one for attracting talent to China and another for the association's Innovation and Startup Park.

"We have seen an increasing number of offices or R&D centers set up by Chinese companies or governments in Silicon Valley, but I hope they can come out of their 'comfort zone' here and engage with the mainstream societies," said Stephanie Xu, president of US-Asia Innovation Gateway.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com