To thoroughly implement the important directives of General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding Inner Mongolia, faithfully carry out his important instructions on Baotou—namely, “one innovation and three realizations”—take the consolidation of the sense of community among the Chinese nation as the central theme of our work, focus on the goal of building “two rare earth bases,” and advance the digital transformation and upgrading of our city’s rare earth industry chain through the regional pilot program for the digital transformation of manufacturing, this policy is formulated in accordance with the actual conditions of our city.

I. Scope of Policy Support

In accordance with the requirements established by the Autonomous Region regarding our city’s pilot program for the digital transformation of manufacturing, this policy supports the digital transformation and development of our city’s rare earth industry chain.

II. Sources and Allocation of Policy Funds

Policy support funds consist of three tiers: autonomous region, municipal, and county-level funds. Funds from the autonomous region and municipal levels are allocated to support rare earth enterprises citywide, while county-level funds are allocated to support rare earth enterprises within their respective jurisdictions. Support for specific enterprise projects is allocated from the three tiers of funds according to a predetermined ratio.

III. Principles of Policy Support

Support will be provided through a post-grant subsidy mechanism. Different support ratios will be applied based on the specific digital transformation model. Priority will be given to industrial internet platforms, digital workshops and smart factories, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.

Funding for a single project generally shall not exceed 20% of the project investment, with a maximum amount of 3 million yuan. For major projects with demonstrative and leading significance, specific support ratios and upper limits will be determined through specialized research and formulation.

IV. Policy Support Guidelines

(1) Strengthening Network Infrastructure Construction

1. Support the upgrading of internal and external corporate networks. Utilize network technologies such as 5G, industrial Ethernet, and industrial wireless to upgrade and modernize the network environment, ensuring efficient connectivity within enterprises or between upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain and supply chain. Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 10% of the project’s actual investment, with a maximum of 500,000 yuan per enterprise.

(2) Promoting Digital Transformation of Key Processes

2. Support the automation and digital transformation of production equipment in existing production processes to replace manual operations with machines and enhance the automation and CNC capabilities of production equipment. Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 15% of the actual project investment, with a maximum of 1 million yuan per enterprise.

3. Support enterprises in “moving to the cloud, utilizing data, and empowering with intelligence.” Subsidies will be provided for enterprises using infrastructure-type cloud services, business application services, and platform system services; building production equipment management systems (platforms); or utilizing third-party cloud resources to promote “equipment cloud migration.” Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 20% of the project’s actual investment, with a maximum of 500,000 yuan per enterprise.

4. Support enterprises in conducting digital transformation in production support areas such as product process R&D, warehousing and logistics, product quality management, energy consumption monitoring, and data development and governance. Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 15% of the actual project investment, with a maximum of 500,000 yuan per enterprise.

5. Support enterprises in implementing smart safety production supervision by establishing visual digital models or building safety production control platforms based on centralized management of regulatory data to achieve intelligent safety production control. Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 15% of the project’s actual investment, with a maximum of 1 million yuan per enterprise.

(3) Cultivating Key Industrial Digitalization Projects

6. Support leading enterprises in building industry-level industrial internet platforms to provide platform-based services to enterprises within the supply chain; support rare earth enterprises in building enterprise-level industrial internet platforms to achieve business collaboration across internal production management processes; and support institutions in building public service platforms. Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 20% of the actual project investment, with a maximum of 3 million yuan for industry-level platforms, 1 million yuan for enterprise-level platforms, and 1 million yuan for public service platforms.

7. Support the construction of enterprise-level nodes for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) identification and resolution system, with subsidies provided at a rate not exceeding 15% of the actual investment, capped at 1 million yuan per enterprise.

8. Support the construction of digital workshops and smart factories. Subsidies will be provided at a rate not exceeding 20% of the actual investment in key equipment and software/hardware, with a maximum of 2 million yuan for digital workshop projects and 3 million yuan for smart factory projects.

(IV) Actively Play a Demonstrative and Leading Role

9. Support enterprises in implementing the standardization of IT-industrial integration. For those certified at Level 2A or above, the subsidy tiers are 300,000 yuan, 500,000 yuan, 700,000 yuan, and 1,000,000 yuan, respectively. Support enterprises in conducting smart manufacturing capability maturity assessments; for those certified at the Integration, Optimization, or Leadership levels, the subsidy tiers are 500,000 yuan, 700,000 yuan, and 1,000,000 yuan, respectively (enterprises may receive both types of certification rewards simultaneously).

10. Support enterprises in striving to become digital transformation benchmarks. Enterprises recognized as municipal-level or higher digital transformation benchmarks or “Little Lighthouses” will be awarded 300,000 yuan, 500,000 yuan, or 700,000 yuan, based on the highest applicable amount but without duplication.

11. Support digital service providers in enhancing their service capabilities and standards. Enterprises evaluated as high-quality digital service providers at the Baotou municipal or autonomous regional level will receive a certain amount of reward based on the number of enterprises they serve.

V. Notes

In principle, no more than two support projects per enterprise shall be approved annually; projects such as demonstration benchmarks, “Little Lighthouses,” standardization of informatization and industrialization integration, and smart manufacturing capability maturity assessments are not included in this limit. Where other preferential policies issued by the state, the autonomous region, or Baotou City are of the same nature and category as this policy, support shall be provided according to the principle of selecting the higher amount without duplication.

The Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology is responsible for interpreting this policy.

This policy shall be implemented on a trial basis from the date of issuance and shall remain in effect until December 31, 2025.