Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province, held a press conference in Beijing on May 15 to announce its upcoming international entrepreneurship contest from May to August.

More than 50 media agencies, representatives from 35 research institutions and talents who want to start businesses took part in the conference.

Hosted by the Yantai municipal government, the event aims to lure high-caliber talents at home and abroad to start their businesses in Yantai city and to fuel its innovation-driven growth. It is also the first time for the city to set up additional  contests in Europe and North America.

The award-winning projects will be invited to Yantai Business Park and will enjoy a series of preferential policies including office rent exemptions, financing matching services and startup subsidies of up to 6 million yuan ($ 967,741).

At the conference, Wang Zhong, vice mayor of Yantai, detailed the city's advantages for overseas talents.

Yantai, at the core of the International Economic Circle in Northeast Asia, enjoys a solid industrial foundation, favorable investment environment, and good ecological environment.

He said that Yantai welcomes overseas talents' starting up in the port city and the government will provide more tailor-made support policies based on the demands of their businesses.

By the end of 2017 Yantai had attracted 35,200 new talents in various sectors bringing its total to more than 1.7 million, ranking first among all cities in Shandong province.

The contest includes three parts -- registration, preliminary, and the final. Contestants in China can sign up through the website: http://chuangye.ytrc.gov.cn.

Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province, held a press conference for its upcoming international entrepreneurship contest in Beijing on May 15. [Photo/jiaodong.net]