Approximately 800 foreign experts permanently stay in Ningbo to provide intellectual support to the development of the manufacturing industry of the city's Beilun district, 500 of which come from the Belt and Road countries, according to local media.

Currently, these foreign experts, involved in smart equipment manufacturing, electronic information, biological medicine and other fields, have designed 500 products, applied for 310 patents, solved 600 technical difficulties and generated 5 billion yuan ($785 million) for local enterprises.

Otto Karl Grunitz from Germany has developed the latest two-plate injection molding machines since he assumed the role of head engineer of Ningbo's Shuangma Machine Industry Co in April 2017, bridging China's technical gap in this area.

Starting from 2001, Marco Ventry from Italy has cooperated with Beilun district's Phase Motion Control Co to design and produce servo drive systems for 4m astronomical telescopes, breaking the overseas technical monopoly.

Local government has also done their best to attract top overseas talents. Strategic framework agreements on talent, science and technology have been signed between Beilun district and National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine respectively in August 2017 in hope of introducing more high-end overseas talents and advanced technologies to Beilun.

The district has issued a series of preferential policies for foreign experts, projected to build international talent apartments, and strived to pilot foreign talent visas to create a more pleasurable environment for overseas talents.