A bird's-eye view of Linjiang New Area in Haimen district, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Zhang Peng, who attended the graduation ceremony of the Yangtze Delta Drug Advanced Research Institute on June 3, signed an employment contract with Shanghai InnoStar Bio-tech (Haimen) Co on the same day.

This provides a glimpse into how popular Linjiang New Area in Haimen district, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, is among biomedicine practitioners.

Zhang said that nearly 20 of his classmates have decided to get involved in the area's biomedicine industry.

The Yangtze Delta Drug Advanced Research Institute, which was built by the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Haimen government, has established cooperative ties with universities such as Anhui University of Chinese Medicine and Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine in a bid to cultivate qualified talent for local biomedicine enterprises.

The research institute is currently home to 79 technical experts from local enterprises, 119 professors from universities across the country and 228 postgraduates, and has cultivated 255 professionals.

The institute has launched 40 projects related to innovative drugs, new excipients and medical apparatus, of which 25 have been put into operation.

The area is currently home to 50 scientists, more than 200 biomedicine enterprises, 200 doctors and 5,000 talents pursuing innovation and entrepreneurship.

Authorities have in recent years also been channeling more resources towards the cultural industry as part of efforts to create a better environment for biomedicine practitioners, with a 4,000-square-meter animation base already having been established.