With Shanghai trying to establish itself as the country's innovation center of science and technology, HR managers in the city say many taking related jobs can expect a big increase in their annual salary this year.

This ship model to be displayed at the Shanghai International Technology Fair next month is able to mine up to one hundred meters under the sea, and is the first of its kind in the world. The company spent ten years in producing its first ship, which is currently operating off southern Hainan Province.

"Design is the key if we plan to promote the ship to Indonesia and Africa. So far, our technical team has around 130 members, but we're still need 200 people," Wang Chen, vice general manger of Chonghe Marine Industry, said.

Lack of talent is also an issue troubling the Jinqiao Development Zone in Pudong, which enjoyed a gross revenue of over 200 billion yuan last year. Half of that was contributed by automobile and hardware companies. Although many of them employ foreign experts, they are also looking for more local talent.

"Previously, in most of the situations, we would assign foreign engineers coming to Shanghai, coming to Beijing just for business trip to help our customers. But right now, we prefer to let our local engineers have such kind of opportunity and also be involved in the research and development of the new products," He Yi, HR director with Lutron Gl Electronics Co., said.

"The average growth rate of annual salaries at the Jinqiao Development Zone was 9.7 percent last year, but the engineers' salaries have been rising over ten percent a year for the past three years. That shows companies in the zone are desperate for science and technology talent to upgrade themselves," Mei Haiyan, general manager with Jinqiao HR Service Center, said.

HR managers say local staff are able to develop products which are more suited to the country's market demands, like this car parking facility. It was improved and redesigned by local engineers, after the company introduced the product from Europe.

"Shanghai has more cars than most cities in the world, and not all drivers are well-educated enough to operate the parking facilities themselves as in other countries. So local engineers have made the products safer, more convenient and more reliable," Wu Qinghai, vice general manager of Cibao Parking Facilities Co., said.

Last year, the average annual salary of ordinary workers in the city was 100-thousand yuan, while the professional technicians earned 70-thousand more. Shanghai expects an average 8.2-percent increase in its annual salaries this year, and the high-tech industry expects a 11.5-percent growth.

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