The world's talented digital technology professionals are increasingly eyeing China as its cities are ranking high globally in terms of their ability to attract such talent to the manufacturing sector, financial services and consumer goods industries, according to the 2020 Global Digital Talent Index Report.

The world's top five cities where digital talent in the manufacturing sector accounted for the largest chunk of the local digital talent pool are Suzhou in Jiangsu province, Munich in Germany, Shanghai, Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Nanjing in Jiangsu province.

Hong Kong topped the world rankings in the proportion of digital experts of financial services sector among its total local digital talent pool.

Shenzhen, Guangzhou－capital of Guangdong province－Milan in Italy, Hong Kong and Barcelona in Spain were the top five cities in terms of digital talent in the consumer goods sector, according to the report.

Tsinghua University's Center for Internet Development and Governance teamed up with LinkedIn, a United States-based networking website, to jointly publish the report.

They based their findings on data on LinkedIn users in 31 innovation-friendly cities and regions around the world as of the end of last year.

The report defined digital talent as individuals with skill sets related to various digital technologies. It excluded people with simple digital literacy but no skills.

Digital talents included in the report were typically strategy managers, high-end analysts, researchers, developers and those with multiple digital skills.

The report also highlighted that Beijing has a talent pool with digital skills who are adding value to development tools, computer hardware, animation, digital marketing and computer networking.

The top five skills in Shanghai, the hub for domestic digital talent, were found in computer hardware, manufacturing operations, electronics, digital marketing, and foreign languages.

Shenzhen was ranked fourth globally as a preferred destination for global digital talent. Beijing had witnessed a net talent outflow, which was related to the capital's industrial layout, said the report.

The report stated that Beijing's digital industries are mainly concentrated in information and communications technology, but some talent has been flowing into the digital transformation projects of traditional industries such as manufacturing, while robotics would be relocated to the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions.

Most of the digital talent in North America and the Asia-Pacific region moved around within their own regions, while their counterparts in Europe were more inclined to relocate to the Asia-Pacific region. This showed the latter's potential and vitality in this respect, the report said.

"To make the country more competitive in this realm, we shall increase investment in scientific research in high-grade and advanced sectors, develop capabilities in basic research, foster incentives to encourage enterprises, and encourage social capital to participate in investment," said Wang Yanping, general manager of public affairs at LinkedIn China.

Chen Yubo, head of Tsinghua University's CIDG, said that many countries have made the digital economy a bedrock for their economic development. The acceleration of digital transformation is irreversible for the world's economic and social development, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to evolve and rebound in some parts of the world.