Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Baotou has built itself into an innovative city, with a fiscal expenditure on science and technology of 4.74 billion yuan ($681.01 million), up 42.4 percent.

The city has focused on supporting the research and development of applied technologies and major breakthroughs in key industrial fields such as rare earth new materials, clean energy, modern equipment manufacturing, new coal chemical deep processing, and green agricultural and livestock products deep processing.

Over the past decade, Baotou has actively built a policy support and security system and issued a series of policies, with the environment for scientific and technological development improving day by day.

Baotou has been recognized as a National Advanced City for Science and Technology Progress for eight consecutive years, was among the first group of innovative pilot cities in China, and has been listed as a National Demonstration City for Science and Technology Progress, among other titles. The brand of Innovation Baotou is running at full speed to become a first-class innovation center in Central and West China and the country as a whole.

Over the past 10 years, the city has been awarded 155 science and technology projects by the autonomous region and two science and technology progress awards by the central government.

The domestic market share of the 100-meter rare earth orbit, which has won the National Science and Technology Progress Award, has reached 35 percent. The rare earth samarium cobalt permanent magnet technology has provided key materials and devices for the "Long March" series of rockets and manned space projects.

Baotou developed the first 36,000-metric-ton vertical extruder, and its electric wheel mining vehicles with completely independent intellectual property rights have a more than 85-percent share of the domestic market.

Additionally, the core technology of high temperature gas cooled reactor spherical assembly industrialization created in the city provides supporting fuel assemblies for the world's first high temperature gas cooled reactor demonstration power plant.