On Chinese New Year's Eve this year, I was still in Inner Mongolia, and flew back to Shenzhen in the afternoon.

Yan Jianbin, a researcher at the Shenzhen Institute of Agricultural Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and president of the Hohhot Institute of Modern Synthetic Biology, said in an interview with this publication that he still spends roughly half of his time in Shenzhen and half in Inner Mongolia.

But a research institute led by multiple academicians is already operating in Hohhot.

On the map of Inner Mongolia-Guangdong talent cooperation, more and more people are working in this way: people in the Greater Bay Area, work in Inner Mongolia.

From "ownership" to "use": a change in attracting and using talent

Globally, the default logic of the talent war is a "zero-sum game," but Inner Mongolia's practice points to another possibility: when the physical limits on talent mobility cannot be broken through, changing the definition of "ownership" is more effective than changing the direction of "mobility."

In July 2024, Inner Mongolia upgraded the "Grassland Talent" program to the "Talent Revitalizing Inner Mongolia" project, established a category for teams led by flexibly introduced talent, and provided flexibly introduced talent with the same policies as talent within the autonomous region in project applications, scientific and technological innovation, and other areas.

In September 2025, the Inner Mongolia Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Talent Workstation of the "Talent Revitalizing Inner Mongolia" project was officially inaugurated at the Inner Mongolia Office in Shenzhen, and the Inner Mongolia-Guangdong talent cooperation mechanism was launched.

In 2026, Inner Mongolia included scientific and technological service talent as an independent category in the scope of high-level talent introduction and recognition for the first time, and compiled and released the Catalogue of Flexible Talent Introduction Needs, covering 10 industrial clusters including modern equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, and artificial intelligence.

The core logic of this set of policies is to recognize a reality: researchers in the Greater Bay Area have families, teams, and laboratories, and the cost of relocation is extremely high.

Rather than insisting on "attracting people," it is better to shift toward "using people," not seeking ownership, but seeking connection.

From "enclave" to "landing": a chain that is being made to work

The "enclave" is becoming the most imaginative institutional design in Inner Mongolia-Guangdong talent cooperation.

In essence, it plants the "outpost" of research and development in places where innovation resources are most concentrated, and returns the "fruit" of transformation to regions with the richest industrial scenarios.

The Ordos (Shenzhen) Talent Science and Innovation Enclave Center was unveiled in Shenzhen in January 2024.

After enterprises complete technological breakthroughs in the Greater Bay Area innovation ecosystem, they land in Ordos and enjoy local policies, energy, application scenarios, and other resources.

At present, through this chain, 47 technology-based enterprises and 4 university research institutes have been introduced, 109 talents of various types have been gathered, and 39 technology-based enterprises have landed in Ordos.

Shenzhen Lingtan Times Technology Co., Ltd. is a practitioner of this "chain." Relying on its independently innovated electrochemical liquid-gas combined deposition technology (ELVD), it resource-utilizes CO2 from industrial tail gas in high-carbon-emission industries such as coal chemical processing and electrolytic aluminum in Ordos, develops high-value carbon nanocomposite materials, and has already launched a pilot production line in the Ordos High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, with an annual pilot production capacity of up to 100 tons.

The enclave model does not change the physical location of talent, but it achieves cross-regional reorganization of innovation factors.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has specially formulated and issued the Guidelines for the Construction and Filing Management of Science and Innovation Enclaves, incorporated science and innovation enclaves into the overall layout of the "Mengkeju" innovation-driven platform, and provided funding support of no more than 1 million yuan in total according to operating performance.

From "connections" to "platforms": how mechanisms replace relationships

In the past, cross-regional cooperation relied heavily on personal relationship networks, and once personnel changes occurred, cooperation often was interrupted as a result.

But institutional arrangements such as alliances, communities, and three-year action plans give cooperation continuity that does not depend on specific individuals.

In May 2026, the Guangdong-Inner Mongolia Universities Serving Modern Industrial System Development Conference was held in Hohhot. More than 110 universities and more than 300 experts and scholars from the two places participated, and 30 universities and 6 enterprises signed 25 agreements, achieving joint discipline construction, joint talent cultivation, joint scientific research, and shared results.

The conference officially launched three platforms: the Guangdong-Inner Mongolia University Alliance, the Teacher Development Alliance, and the Vocational Education Collaborative Development Community, and simultaneously released a three-year action plan.

This was not a simple signing ceremony, but an upgrade of cooperation from a "one-time handshake" to "institutionalized rooting."

On the industrial side, in September 2026, after the second "Mengyue Pioneer" Cup Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation Competition concluded, representatives of 16 participating technology enterprises from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area traveled to Inner Mongolia to attend in person the "Crossing Mountains and Seas, Linking the Future" Inner Mongolia-Guangdong Scientific and Technological Innovation Cooperation and Industrial Matchmaking Exchange Meeting, and discussed project implementation face to face with representatives of Inner Mongolia enterprises, universities, and research institutes.

From ownership to use, from enclave to landing, from connections to platforms, "people in the Greater Bay Area, work in Inner Mongolia" has already moved from a policy concept to a chain that is operating.

This experiment between Inner Mongolia and Guangdong has opened a new space of imagination for regional talent cooperation—"talent does not move house, value flows."

This may perhaps be one direction for future regional talent cooperation.