The Rare Earth New Materials Technology Innovation Center held its first board of directors meeting in Beijing on June 15 and established an expert advisory committee, as the center has officially become fully operational.

The center, which settled in Baotou on Feb 15, is tasked with promoting the rare earth industry to move towards the middle and high-end of the value chain, supporting disruptive technological innovation of this industry, and playing a leading role in developing the global rare earth industry.

Meng Fanying, chairman of Baogang Group in the city, said holding the event in Beijing is of great significance in terms of promoting the high-quality development of the industry.

In recent years, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Baotou city have strengthened their joint innovation with top experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering and major scientific research institutes, in order to create a national source of original rare earth technology.

Relying on the world's largest reserves of resources endowment, Baotou has formed a complete industrial chain from raw ore mining and smelting separations to functional materials and terminal applications.

Its industrial technology has already reached the international advanced level, making the city known as the world's rare earth capital. Baotou is also home to eight State-level research platforms in this field, accounting for over half of all rare earth research platforms in China.