Baotou holds the opening ceremony of the second Baotou Talent Week, and the Rare Earth+ National Postdoctoral Academic Exchange Event on Aug 22. [Photo/Baotou news network]

The opening ceremony of the second Baotou Talent Week and the Rare Earth+ National Postdoctoral Academic Exchange Event took place in Baotou city on Aug 22.

Baotou Talent Week features 16 activities, including talent recruitment, academic exchanges, and innovation and entrepreneurship skills competitions. These promote the integration of talent and industry and attract a large number of innovative talents to Baotou.

The Rare Earth+ National Postdoctoral Academic Exchange Event includes expert reports, academic discussions, and keynote speeches by academicians. These provide a platform for postdoctoral researchers in the rare earth field to engage in academic exchanges.

During the opening ceremony, the Baotou Talent Association, the Baotou Modern Human Resources Development Institute, and some academicians' workstations were unveiled. These included the China Second Metallurgical Group's Road and Bridge Intelligent Construction and Maintenance Workstation and the Chilechuan Modern Ecological Agriculture Development Co's Plant Micro-Ecological Agent Creation Workstation.

Baotou city also released the Baotou Talent Attraction White Paper 2023 and awarded some colleges the title of Baotou Model University of Talent Introduction.

Since 2023, Baotou has attracted nearly 10,000 talents, introduced 36 expert teams, established three new academicians' workstations, and set up 71 innovation platforms at or above the Inner Mongolia autonomous regional level.

With the support of talent and technological innovation, Baotou's economic development has steadily accelerated, rising 31 places in the ranking of China's top 100 cities over the past three years. In the first half of 2024, Baotou's GDP grew by 8.7 percent, the fastest growth rate among China's top 100 cities.