On the morning of 31 October, the 2025 Shantou Talent Week, organized by the Shantou Municipal Committee of the CPC and the Shantou Municipal Government, was officially launched. Prof. Gong Xingao, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences delivered the keynote address.

Addressing the audience as both an educator and a scientist, Prof. Gong stressed that universities are talent magnets and city calling cards. By offering first-class education and research ecosystems, they supply the skilled personnel required for sustainable urban growth. Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) exemplifies this role, generating a powerful “GTIIT momentum” that is drawing researchers and innovators to Guangdong Province, particularly to its eastern, western, and northern regions.

Prof. Gong outlined GTIIT’s achievements since its founding. With strong municipal and provincial backing, GTIIT organizes the Nan’ao Science Conference, welcomed hundreds of academicians and leading scholars to discuss frontier science and national strategic needs. GTIIT is committed to cultivating excellent engineers and scientific talents with innovation ability, global vision and humanistic quality. Its accomplishments in scientific innovation and talent development continue to inject vitality into Shantou’s future pool of technology and industry professionals.

“Basing on its unique China-Israel cooperation model, GTIIT is becoming Shantou’s premier talent hub,” Prof. Gong noted. To date, GTIIT faculty have secured 52 national, provincial and municipal high-level-talent grants; about 30% full professors hold major provincial-or-above talent titles. 86% faculty hold Ph.D. degrees and 82% are international scholars from more than 30 countries and regions, including Israel, Russia, Argentina, the United States and Canada. Most have studied or worked at world-class institutions and possess deep industry experience.

Shantou—one of China earliest special economic zones, a renowned hometown of overseas Chinese and a provincial sub-center—owes its vitality to openness and to talent. Launched in 2022, Shantou Talent Week seeks to attract and empower outstanding professionals. As the city’s only Sino-foreign university, GTIIT will deepen its partnership with local authorities and play an active part in this year’s program.

During the coming week, GTIIT will also host the 2nd Materials Science Summit-AI Materials and organize the 26th Nan'ao Science Conference, gathering top minds to explore emerging trends. Prof. Lin Danming, Pro-Vice Chancellor of GTIIT, will give a speech in the “New Quality Productive Forces Entrepreneurs” lecture series. GTIIT scholars will join multiple forums, contributing their expertise to build Shantou into an Eastern Guangdong highland for technological innovation and talent cultivation.