In the new round of investment and talent attraction work, Shandong gives full play to the family and kinship ties and concentrates on creating a high-quality and efficient business environment to encourage domestic businessmen to return to their hometown and invite foreign businessmen to come and seek common development.

Shandong Yihua Biotechnology Co Ltd was unveiled recently in Zaozhuang. Its research and development of new technology will revamp the production process of the traditional pharmaceutical protein.

Wang Yueju, chairman and chief scientist of Yihua Biotechnology. [Photo/iqilu.com]

Wang Yueju, chairman and chief scientist of Yihua Biotechnology, said, "It is popular in China to extract medicinal protein from microorganisms or animal cells, but we extract from plants, which is good for the environment, and the cost is low."

Last year, Wang resigned as a tenured professor at an American university and returned to Beijing with the experience of more than 20 years of research. Upon returning home, his project was listed as a key import one by Beijing and Shenzhen, and attracted more than 100 investment companies came on board, including his hometown, Zaozhuang. 

Zhou Zongan, vice mayor of Zaozhuang, said, "One of the six emerging industries in Zaozhuang is medical health, which is fully in line with our industrial policy." 

Shandong Yihua Biotechnology Co Ltd involves in research and development of new technology will revamp the production process of the traditional pharmaceutical protein.[Photo/iqilu.com]

Zaozhuang sent people to Beijing several times to investigate and organize experts to demonstrate, and decided to take out 60 million yuan ($8.7 million) from the "old and new growth driver transformation fund" to support the medicinal protein project, but it was rejected by Wang.

Wang said, "Impossible. It is impossible to consider Shandong. The first reason is that it has no foundation, no talent, the second is that our industry has to face the pressure of competition in Europe and the United States, so we must stand firm and focus on the first-tier cities."

At a critical juncture, Zaozhuang decided to let Wang's sister act as a go-between. 

Wang Yuru, secretary and chairman of the Party group of Overseas Chinese Federation in Zaozhuang, said: "With the old and new growth driver transformation fund and financial support, the project will land successfully, and you can visit your parents frequently at home." 

How can he persuade to stay based on the family ties? Zaozhuang decided to start from the talent problem that enterprises are most concerned about to tailor a new service mode for Wang - offshore incubation.

"Offshore incubation is the local industrialization of some projects that are hatched from different places. Many conditions in Beijing are incomparable to us, including policies, talents, research and development advantages, but the traffic location, the region, and the industrial park are also not available in Beijing," said Li Feng, deputy secretary and mayor of Zaozhuang.

Wang said that this was a pioneering work, which was rare at home and he had not heard that before, and the first production line must be located in Zaozhuang.

The product of the pharmaceutical protein project is expected to come out before the end of the year.

Shi Feng, executive deputy director of Zaozhuang High-tech Industrial Development Zone, said, "From the beginning to the registration, the company was registered in a very short time. Professor Wang became the manager of the company with the stakes of his intellectual property."

Thanks to the benefits from the family and local sentiment investment attraction and an increasingly advantageous business environment, in the first eight months of this year, 148 new projects were signed in Zaozhuang, and a total capital of 16.63 billion yuan were fully funded, with an increase of 4.6 percent over the same period of last year.

Zhou Zongan, vice mayor of Zaozhuang, said, "The best investment policy for a place is not to give you much tax exemption, but a good business environment. All the entrepreneurs went there with no strangeness, just like his family, which was a preferential policy that was more valuable than money." 

Not only in Zaozhuang, at present, Shandong province is pushing forward the reform of "doing well once". By publishing the list of "doing well once" items, perfecting the service network of "At Most One Visit", innovating the service mode of "At Most One Visit" and other reform measures, Shandong will create a development environment of "fewer examinations and approvals, high efficiency and high quality service".

Ding Zhaoqing, an official from the Shandong provincial Party school, said, "Because we Shandong people are affectionate and welcoming, it is a good way to attract business with family and kinship ties. But commercial behavior is concerned about interests, so we must rely on the continuous optimization of the business environment to attract, retain, develop business, and constantly inject new vitality into the old and new kinetic energy transformation in Shandong."