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Dalian lures IT professionals

By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-09 10:27

A bird's-eye view of the first phase of the Dalian software park. [China Daily]

The port city of Dalian launched a set of new policies yesterday to attract more IT talent to the region, in a bid to fuel the growth of the rising software hub in Liaoning province.

The policies include plans to build public facilities for training institutions, construct apartments for IT workers in the city, and provide subsidies for senior professionals in the industry, according to a regulation made public by the Dalian Hi-tech Industrial Zone.

"The software and IT service outsourcing sector is developing rapidly in Dalian. However, the lack of talent is becoming a serious problem which restricts this development," Xia Deren, mayor of Dalian, said at a news briefing.

Statistics show the city's software sector has on average seen an annual 68.2 percent rise over the last decade. Last year, its software sales revenue reached 21.5 billion yuan, while the export volume rose to $720 million.

Currently, there are over 60,000 IT professionals working in more than 700 IT companies in Dalian.

"If we can achieve an annual output value of 100 billion yuan in 2018, we will need 300,000 to 500,000 IT professionals. Obviously, there is a huge talent shortage," Xia said.

"Our Hi-tech Industrial Zone allocates 200 million yuan every year to attract talented people," he added. "We are trying to create a good environment for the training institutions and companies to attract more talent."

Xia described the regulation as "an extraordinary measure taken by the local government".

To create a talent pool in the city, the regulation helps international and local training institutes bring more IT talent to the sector.