Elsevier's Science + Technology division China and Science News announced today that they will jointly organize the first "Attracting Academic Talent Summit" in Beijing on June 2, 2009, at the Beijing Rongjin International Hotel.
At a time when China has increased efforts to build high-level capacities in science and technology industry innovation, the increased competition for academic talent among universities is a topic of growing importance and concern for China. The "One Thousand Talents Plan," a national human resource program launched in 2008 by the Chinese Central Government, was established to attract back to China high level academics who have gone oversees to work or study. These international researchers are becoming a new force in Chinese universities and are needed resources in order to grow China’s science and technology skills. As China’s economy is relatively strong in the current global downturn, many Chinese who are abroad view this as a good opportunity to go back to work in China. For China it is more important than ever to develop methods and tools to identify, select, evaluate and manage talent, in order to improve research performance and get the best Return on Investment (ROI).
The summit will be attended by Human Resources and Research Department Directors, leading scientists from the top 20 Chinese universities and research institutes, including Shanghai Jiaotong University, the Chinese University of Science & Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and policy makers from the Ministry of Education (MoE), and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).
“The Chinese Central Government is highly invested in this program to attract high level talent from abroad to come back to China. We are excited about supporting this by working with Elsevier’s Science and Technology division in China to co-host a summit on such an important topic. We think it will be a great platform to show what China has to offer ambitious academics, especially in today’s economy”, said Mr. Jia Hepeng, Editor in Chief of Science News in China.
Sun Gaopeng, Regional Sales Director of Elsevier in China added: “With the types of solutions Elsevier is developing today, we are in an excellent position to support China’s efforts to attract talent. With solutions like Scival Spotlight, a solution launching in June that helps institutes map out scientific expertise and benchmark with competitive institutes, and Scopus, we can help Chinese universities and research institutes improve ways of identifying and managing research talent and making informed decisions for investments.
“We see the 'Attracting Academic Talent Summit’ as an opportunity to listen to our customers and get deeper insights into their needs and challenges”, commented Hugo Zhang, Managing Director of Elsevier Science &Technology China. “Our mission is to become China’s ideal partner in realizing its ambitions for further developing its science and technology capacities. In order to reach those goals, China needs to have the best people in place to get them there. This means being able to identify and attract top researchers to China. We are in a good place to support this and look forward to continuing to work with our Chinese customers in developing solutions that meet their needs”.