Online professional network LinkedIn inaugurated the LinkedIn Shenzhen Innovation Center at the Human Resources Industrial Park in Nanshan District on Tuesday.
It is the second innovation center that LinkedIn has opened on the Chinese mainland. The first innovation center is located in Guiyang, capital city of Guizhou Province.
“Shenzhen is a city known for its innovation, and Linked-In is also an innovator in the global professional network, so our company is going to help Shenzhen attract more talents and at the same time, show the city’s innovation to the world,” said Olivier Legrand, chairman and general manager in charge of LinkedIn’s Asia-Pacific and Japan operations.
Legrand said the Shenzhen innovation center will be able to provide LinkedIn Talent Solution to the Shenzhen city government as well as corporate clients in the city with access to the company’s big data and global platforms.
The Tsinghua SEM Center for Internet Development and Governance (CIDG) collaborated with LinkedIn recently to publish the first-ever China Digital Economy Talent Report, which indicated that Shenzhen has become China’s second-largest hub of digital talents after Shanghai.
“In the era of digital economy, building a globally competitive digital talent system is the engine for continuous industrial development,” said Legrand. “The establishment of the Shenzhen innovation center can greatly help the local government and innovative startups in Shenzhen to better connect with the world.”
Having worked in Hong Kong for years, Legrand has had many opportunities to visit Shenzhen and foresaw Shenzhen’s potentiality in attracting high-end talents.
He said that Shenzhen was among the top three on three different lists compiled by LinkedIn ranking Chinese cities’ attractiveness in terms of profession globalization and appeal to millennial professionals and returned overseas students.
“Promotion opportunity and a better stage for performance are the key driving factors for overseas students returning to their motherland for jobs,” said Legrand.
LinkedIn was founded in 2003 with the aim of connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive. It now has more than 530 million members worldwide. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, the United States, and has offices across the globe.