The city in southern Guangdong province plans to build 10 overseas innovation centers in countries and regions where there are abundant resources - such as the US, Canada and Europe - to absorb and make use of the innovative skilled staff located there.

Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin mapped out the initiative in his government work report on Friday, when the Shenzhen people's congress kicked off.

"We will formulate special plans to support enterprises and organizations, to set up 10 innovation centers overseas to create an international collaborative innovation platform and gather innovative talent from across the world," Xu said, adding that the first four will start construction this year.

"To implement the action plans of Internet Plus and 'Made in China 2025', we also plan to build 10 manufacturing innovation centers in such areas as robotics, 3D printing and new energy vehicles to enhance our capability in high-end, precise and smart manufacturing," Xu added.

Known as the country's innovation hub, Shenzhen has been taking the lead in China in pursuing an innovation-driven economic development model.

Investment in research and development by the city amounted to more than 80 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) last year, accounting for 4.1 percent of its total gross domestic product. The number of its national high-tech companies increased by 2,513 in 2016, triple the growth a year earlier, to 8,037.