In recent years, Ordos, a city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has implemented the initiative of rejuvenating the region through science and technology and introduced such measures as the 30 New Policies for Science and Technology and the 30 New Policies for Talents. By initiating projects to implement these policies, it has witnessed an increasing year-on-year growth of technology investment.
The total number of talents in the city is 457,000, of whom about 48,000 are high-level talents, 130,000 engage in business management, 174,000 are in professional and technical roles, 50,000 are in high-skilled positions, 79,000 are familiar with practical skills frequently used in agricultural and pastoral areas, 10,000 undertake social work, and 15,000 devote themselves to Party and government affairs.
Ordos has been approved to construct innovation demonstration zones for carrying out the national sustainable development agenda. The city’s R&D expenses for enterprises above designated size have surpassed 7 billion yuan (about $988.21 million), a 25 percent growth and a historic high. Both the total amount and contribution of these enterprises rank first in the autonomous region, propelling Ordos to stand within the top 100 cities nationwide in sci-tech innovation.
The city has built a number of high-level innovation platforms, including the Ordos Research Institute of Energy of Peking University, the Inner Mongolia Research Institute of China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing, the Ordos Laboratory and the Strategic Alliance for Technological Innovation in Cashmere Industry. It has also introduced two academicians.
Ordos has initiated a three-year action plan for talent development and technological innovation, with a municipal-level fiscal investment in technology totaling 850 million yuan, representing a 21.4 percent increase. It has launched 56 major sci-tech projects and established a technological innovation fund.
The number of high-tech enterprises in the city has exceeded 220, up 30 percent, and 358 technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises have been added to the database. A total of 40 industrial enterprises with no R&D investment, R&D institutions and invention patents have been ramping up efforts to boost research. The city has secured the approval for one national center for enterprise technology and nurtured 18 specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products in the autonomous region, along with 34 innovative enterprises.
Collaborating with Tsinghua University and Peking University, the Ordos Carbon Neutral Research Institute has developed 17 technical research projects and pilot-scale initiatives, and accelerated the output of such sci-tech achievements as advanced electro-chlorination technology, the industrial preparation of coal-based nano-hydrocarbon materials and new drugs against gliomas.
The city has initiated the construction of "One Center, Two Parks and Eight Bases", and is home to two academician expert workstations, four post-doctoral research workstations, 10 leading scientists and 5,785 highly skilled personnel. The number of patents granted has experienced a 20 percent growth.
