MORE than 20 projects initiated by returnees have settled in Jiading at the 2014 Shanghai Overseas Returnees Entrepreneurship Conference.

Figures show that Shanghai is now home to around 110,000 overseas returnees — an increase of 22 percent on 2010.

Shanghai offers a number of local and national schemes to encourage Chinese professionals studying or working overseas to return home and help develop the city as an innovation center in science and technology.

Incentives include favorable living and working conditions, plus financial and government support.

Entrepreneurs among the group have established some 4,700 companies in the city, with a total registered capital of US$670 million.

Fan Ruoyu, general manager of Dingshu Information Technology which specializes in Big Data, and Zhang Qiang, president of United Imaging, shared their experiences and thoughts in entrepreneurship at the signing ceremony.

The Jiading government also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Thousand Talent Program Culture and Science Committee to hold summits designed for Jiading.