Located in Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area, the entrepreneurship park for international students at the Shanghai Lingang Technology Innovation Center is becoming a magnet for global talent, offering dedicated facilities and services.

Established in 2009, the Shanghai Lingang Technology Innovation Center is the first national-level technology business incubator in Lin-gang. Over the past 16 years, it has provided high-quality employment and entrepreneurship services for international talent in business establishment, enterprise development, and housing. In May 2025, it launched the entrepreneurship park for international students, which has become a key platform for attracting overseas projects and talent.

To date, the park has attracted nearly 30 enterprises from home and abroad across fields such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, biomedicine, and advanced manufacturing.

Comprehensive support for entrepreneurs

With extensive financial, space, and policy support, the park offers full-chain innovation and entrepreneurship services to nurture young global innovators.

Charles Andrew Howes, an international student at New York University Shanghai, shared his entrepreneurial experience. Despite an initial arrival delay due to a wrong turn, he received support from a dedicated service group set up by the park within a day.

The group provided Charles with step-by-step guidance, from shareholders and capital requirements for overseas talent establishing new companies, to business scope approval, customs registration procedures, office leasing, and operational scope setup.

At the end of June, Charles faced an urgent visa expiration. The team offered timely policy guidance to help him shift smoothly from a student to an entrepreneur. To accelerate industrialization, the center also recommended Charles to participate in the Lin-gang round of the "Shanghai Talent+" Global Talents Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, offering support on business model refinement, pitch skills, and industrialization pathways.

Now the founder of Mydian Business Co., Ltd, Charles expressed appreciation for the detailed policy support and hands-on assistance provided by the park. At the 2025 Lin-gang International Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exchange Conference on Nov 17, three enterprises, including Mydian, signed agreements to settle in the park.

Another representative is Eve Denayer Cumplido, an entrepreneur from Spain who founded an educatedtech company in Shanghai. To help the company launch quickly, the park provided him with a teaching space designed to balance daily training needs with minimal disruption to neighboring research enterprises, along with access to high-quality educational resources in Lin-gang.

In addition to startup support, the park offers a one-stop talent service covering free company registration, work visa processing, academic qualification recognition, and rent-free talent apartments.

Full-chain services

The center has been building a cross-border technology transaction platform since 2013, which expanded in 2023 with the opening of the Shanghai Technology Exchange International Center  in Lin-gang. The platform now includes 21 overseas service points, providing essential support for enterprise development by integrating technology, projects, and talent.

To ensure sustained growth, the park also built an ecosystem that blends technology transactions, industrial incubation, and resource matchmaking. With its support, a returnee doctoral team from Germany received government startup funding for its robotics project, and a Swiss returnee team specializing in integrated circuit testing equipment was connected with downstream application scenarios to accelerate technology implementation.

In the six years since its establishment, Lin-gang Special Area has attracted more than 140,000 professionals and gathered in more than 300 enterprises founded by overseas returnees.

The area has established Shanghai's first regional immigration service center, pioneered electronic port visas, and implemented residence permits for up to five years. Its talent services now cover more than 80 countries, supporting over 25,000 international professionals.

In 2025, Lin-gang rolled out a series of support policies, providing rent-free offices and full-cycle entrepreneurial support to attract global innovators. The park has seen a 30–40 percent year-on-year increase in enterprise inquiries and receptions, along with a doubling of high-quality incoming enterprises.

The park will continue to upgrade its talent services, offering superior spaces, more inclusive platforms, and thoughtful safeguards to attract global talent.

Source: Wenhui Daily