The Inner Mongolia Tongwei high purity crystalline silicon project is an example of the trends taking place in Baotou city. [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park]

Research and development in the city of Baotou – located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – is currently booming and it is projected to exceed the national average by 2025.

That's when the output value of seven emerging industries – namely, energy conservation and environmental protection, emerging information, biology, new energy, new energy vehicles, high-end equipment manufacturing and new materials – is expected to account for more than 40 percent of its industries above a designated size.

During that period, the city's new rare earth materials, silicon-based materials, wind power equipment and other industries are expected to enter the middle and high-end of the national and even the global value chain.

By 2025, a regional innovation center with a sound innovation system, good economic and social benefits and a leading innovation role – whose influence radiates out to surrounding regions – will be in place.

Those projections were based on a paper recently issued by Batou, called the 2023 Document No 1 – Opinions on Implementing the Innovation-driven Development Strategy and Developing Strategic Emerging Industries.

The document emphasized that Baotou would focus on building a world hub for the rare earth industry and would also become an international hub for the green silicon industry and build clusters for those sectors.

In terms of establishing the first, Baotou plans to promote the efficient development and utilization of rare earth resources and develop new rare earth materials.

Furthermore, Baotou aims to build the world's biggest production and marketing base for rare earth magnetic materials and deep-processing products. It will build a national-level trading platform and achieve an annual trading volume of 23 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) by 2023.

In 2023, the output value of the Baotou rare earth industry is projected to reach 75 billion yuan, while the conversion rate of rare earth raw materials processed on site will reach 80 percent. Two years later, the output value is forecast to top 100 billion yuan.

In terms of building a world hub for the green silicon industry, the industry supply chain in the city for solar power equipment at a certain scale is forecast to have been basically formed in 2023. By 2025, the value of annual output of its industrial clusters will reach 600 billion yuan.