Chongchuan district, Nantong, is attracting graduates and professionals with frontier industries and incentives.

The district provides a hands-on research and development environment. The Zhongtian Zhiyuan Embodied Intelligence Innovation Center has built a 3,100-square-meter training base where students gain hands-on experience in robotics.

The district has also established research grants that have attracted high-caliber professionals from institutions such as Microsoft Research.

A rendering photo of Xindike Monofilament in Chongchuan. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

Leading local companies are retaining talent through university partnerships. Xindike Monofilament assigns each R&D engineer a corporate mentor and an academic expert.

One such case is that of Wang Caihong, a graduate who solved key production challenges and expanded the company's intellectual property portfolio in her first year.

In addition, Chongchuan offers subsidies ranging from job hunting to home buying. Job seekers receive travel and accommodation support, employees get living allowances for three consecutive years, and entrepreneurs can access startup funds and rent-free apartments.

Over the past five years, 80 percent of the district's unicorn companies were founded by young entrepreneurs, raising over 3.5 billion yuan ($518.38 million).

Meanwhile, the district has launched 127 major talent initiatives, operates 56 innovation centers, and adds more than 13,000 graduates to its workforce each year.