By Cheng Yingqi (China Daily)  

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) recently announced an adjustment to its talent program package on May 25, which includes programs that grant up to 8 million yuan ($1.29 million) to attract talents from all across the world.   

The package integrated several talent programs that had been adopted by CAS and adjusted the details in each program to suit new development goals.   

“In the past, our talent programs focused more on introducing overseas talents to China. But in the new project, we redesigned the grants toward the goals of making full use of existing personnel, introducing only imperative talents, stabilizing essential talents and creating more opportunities for young local talents,” said Bai Chunli, president of CAS.

One example that reflects the redesign concept is the Hundred Talents Program, a talent program of the academy since 1994.  

The previous Hundred Talents Program granted up to 2 million yuan to talents who have no less than four years’ working experience in world-renowned foreign research institutes after receiving their PhD.  

In the adjusted Hundred Talents Program, however, talents are grouped into three categories:  academic leaders, technical personnel and young talents.   

“Some talents are urgently needed but have been overlooked for a long time in our talent programs. For example, technical personnel – people who prepare specimens or maintain the devices at laboratories – can solve many crucial problems that scientists cannot solve,” Bai said.  

“In a foreign laboratory, good technical personnel make more money than the scientists. But in domestic laboratories, we have ignored the importance of these people,” he said.  

Technical personnel will be granted 1.6 to 2.6 million yuan once they come into the new Hundred Talents Program.  

Another feature of the new talent program is highlighting the importance of cultivating young talents, said Wang En’ge, vice-president of the academy.  

For example, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association is an organization established by CAS to grant start-up funding to promising young researchers.  

“Before the adjustment, the association provided 100,000 yuan per year to young researchers for four consecutive years. Now we have adjusted the terms on which we will select some excellent individuals in the four years and grant 1.5 million yuan in additional funding to ensure the best young researchers can continue their projects and become academic leaders,” Wang said.  

Zhan Wenlong, vice-president of CAS, said that the ultimate goal of the talent programs is to respond to the academy’s new task.  

In 2013, President Xi Jinping said that CAS should focus on the frontiers of world science and technology, and China’s strategic needs as well as the national economy during his visit to the academy.   

The academy published new policies that pinpoint its development direction and goals in February.  

“Talents are the foundation of innovation. As a result, our goal is to use the new talent programs to accomplish our mission to keep up with China’s development strategy in the new era,” Zhan said.