A groundbreaking ceremony is held in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, on May 29, to mark the launch of Yili's National Dairy Technology Innovation Center project. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Construction work has begun on the Yili Modern Smart Health Valley National Dairy Technology Innovation Center project in Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, following a groundbreaking ceremony held on May 29.

The Yili Modern Smart Health Valley project is committed to creating a world-class high-quality development complex for the dairy industry and promoting the overall upgrading of the industry.

After completion, it will create a GDP of more than 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion), a cumulative fiscal revenue of 90 billion yuan, and help more than 500,000 people find employment.

As the core sector of the Yili Modern Smart Health Valley project, the National Dairy Technology Innovation Center will gather domestic and foreign dairy innovation resources and strive to meet national strategic needs and industrial issues, with the goal of building a globally influential dairy technology innovation hub.

The National Dairy Technology Innovation Center will set up five research centers and three service platforms in order to undertake scientific research and provide services.

The five research centers will carry out research topics in five areas: high-quality forage and breeding technology, dairy cattle breeding technology, dairy nutrition and health, dairy technology and equipment, and dairy safety and quality, to deepen China's dairy industry research and innovation capabilities.

At present, more than 20 industry enterprises, universities, scientific research centers and upstream and downstream enterprises have participated in the development of the National Dairy Technology Innovation Center.