Seventeen enterprises from the Baotou Rare-earth High-tech Zone have signed agreements worth over 320 million yuan ($44.6 million) with research institutes and financial institutions in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Zhejiang province, and Guangdong province during a cross-region patent conversion matchmaking event held in Baotou on July 23.

The agreements cover patent technology cooperation, industry-university-research collaboration, and patent licensing and pledge financing that will inject momentum into the construction of the "two rare earth bases".

The zone currently holds 7,258 valid patents, including 1,962 patents in the rare earth sector, and has pioneered a "fixed assets + intellectual property" dual pledge model. It has facilitated intellectual property pledge financing for 45 enterprises in recent years, completing over 80 financing loans and securing more than 4 billion yuan in funding.

In the first half of this year, the zone has assisted enterprises in winning 2.55 million yuan in municipal awards, and conducted five intellectual property administrative protection and training sessions on overseas intellectual property disputes for 100 people. Baotou INST Magnetic New Materials Co, which is located in the zone, has also obtained the city's first data intellectual property registration certificate.