An aerial view of Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province recently received the China Best Employer Award, local media reported on Dec 25.

The selection event was organized by the social survey and research center of Peking University, the National School of Development of Peking University, and the recruitment platform Zhaopin.

As the first city in China to entice returnees to start businesses, Wuxi has always placed strong emphasis on favorable policies. Since 2016, the city has continuously updated its talent policies, benefiting Nobel Prize winners, academicians, university graduates, and skilled personnel.

The Xuelang Yun industrial internet platform, a scientific innovation enterprise in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

Due to the city's Taihu Lake Talent Program, the team led by academician Ding Han from the Wuxi research institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology received 100 million yuan ($14.31 million) from local authorities in 2020, and two years later the team led by academician Ding Rongjun also received the same amount of capital.

As of the end of 2021, supported by nearly 2.8 billion yuan from local authorities, 1,322 businesses had been started by talent in the city, including 66 businesses with annual sales revenue of more than 100 million yuan.

The 2022 China Taihu International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is held in Wuxi on Nov 15. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

To date, Wuxi has brought in 17 Nobel Prize winners, more than 50 academicians, 619 provincial-level innovative and entrepreneurial talents, and 2,970 municipal-level talents.

In recent years, the city has also rolled out financial measures to support talent. This year, the 201-million-yuan Wuxi Taihu Lake Talent Development Fund was set up.

Wuxi is currently home to nearly 2.05 million talents, including 163,000 high-profile talents and 512,000 highly-skilled professionals. The city ranks 12th in China in attractiveness to talent.