The list of winners for the first Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Patent Awards was recently released and Baotou city scored with two gold medals, four silvers and seven honorable mentions, accounting for 37 percent of the total awards in the event.

In May 2023, the regional government introduced the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Patent Award Evaluation Measures – providing financial bonuses of 300,000 yuan ($41,980), 200,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan for gold, silver and honorable mention, respectively.

Baotou's winning patents were mainly in the fields of rare earths, mechanical manufacturing, steel and biology, with a total awards prize pot of 2.1 million yuan.

Baotou has attached great importance to the latest round of patent applications. It's held mobilization meetings, conducted training sessions and establishing expert teams to widely mobilize and guide the innovation entities in the city – aiming to boost the overall quality of patent applications for the awards.

Moving forwards, plans are for Baotou to encourage the winning enterprises to compete in Chinese and international patent selection events such as the China Patents Award. The aim will be to boost the technological innovation capabilities of key industries and raise the city's profile.