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South China Morning Post
30-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Expat talent in the picture as Xi Jinping visits Shanghai AI hub
A French-Moroccan mathematician was among a group of researchers Chinese President Xi Jinping met during a tour of an AI start-up hub in Shanghai on Tuesday in an apparent show of support for foreign entrepreneurs in the country Advertisement Hamza Boukili, an entrepreneur and maths teacher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), was among those on hand for Xi's trip to the SMC Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre, according to the Shanghai-based Shangguan Observer. The centre is one of China's first incubators and accelerators for large-scale artificial intelligence models, and the visit was Xi's first inspection trip since the revival of the US-China tariff war this year. According to the report, Boukili started working at SJTU in 2020 and became a permanent resident of China this year. Permanent residency is a highly selective process and, according to the Shanghai government, applicants must either be employed by a designated science and technology innovation company, or have had an annual salary of at least six times the annual urban employee average. Alternatively, they can qualify if they are core members of research teams. Advertisement The report also said Boukili had a company that used AI to conserve energy and reduce emissions. 'I can clearly feel that everyone is highly supportive of entrepreneurship. The results we've achieved are of great value to individuals, the university where I work, and even the entire region,' the report quoted him as saying. 'When the environment is that good, why not jump into it?'
South China Morning Post
21-03-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Star scientist Pan Linfeng picks cutting-edge China post over fading Oxbridge
After more than four years as a postdoctoral researcher at Cambridge University's historic Cavendish Laboratory, rising star Pan Linfeng faced a career path choked by scarce permanent positions and salaries dwarfed by China's aggressive investment in scientific talent Advertisement Pan, 34, has already published more than 30 papers in prestigious journals such as Nature, Nature Catalysis, and Nature Communications, and accumulated more than 4,100 citations, according to Google Scholar. But with a tenure at either Oxford or Cambridge as far away as ever, Pan abandoned the Cavendish, which has produced 30 Nobel laureates since it was established in 1871 as the world's first dedicated physics research institution. This month, he left Britain's fading academic prestige to lead a cutting-edge renewable energy laboratory at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) – part of its Transformative Molecular Frontier Science Centre, which opened in 2020 and is already positioned as a world-class hub. Pan – who earned a doctorate in chemistry from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2019, before joining the Cavendish in 2020 – began exploring opportunities in China after his 2024 paper was accepted by the top journal Nature. Advertisement He looked into potential positions at universities in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai, before settling on a tenure-track associate professorship at SJTU. 'Currently, China is actively supporting young scientists, and the timing is ideal to return,' Pan told China Science Daily in 2024. 'The nation lacks advanced spectroscopic analysis for solar fuels – I aim to bridge this gap by establishing domestic labs with my international expertise.'
