Eight projects recommended by the science and technology bureau and the finance bureau of Baotou city -- in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region -- got the green light to receive 27.2 million yuan ($4.05 million) in national funding, according to a recent report in the Baotou Daily.

The projects were included in the 100 Cities and 100 Parks action plan, a key national initiative jointly launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance.

Its main goal is to promote the resumption of work and production and to stabilize employment, in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Officials said it will leverage such advantages as access to innovative resources and a proactive policy environment. They said the plan aims to accelerate a raft of advanced technological achievements, to promote epidemic prevention and control, as well as to boost high-quality economic and social development.

Seven key Baotou technology research and achievement transformation projects are to receive financial support of 11.2 million yuan. They include a medical compression atomizer, a negative pressure ambulance and a fully automatic mask production machine.

In addition, the Baotou Rare Earth High-Tech Industrial Development Zone is to get significant funding. The zone -- which has carried out innovative development related to the rare earth industry supply chain -- is to get 16 million yuan, to develop rare earth and new materials industry internet.

This project focuses on enterprise production process optimization, management decision optimization, resource allocation and collaborative optimization, data integration management and applications optimization.

Through big data analysis, modeling and other technologies, the goal of an overall improvement of the industry supply chain will be achieved.