Institute for platinum group metals opens during summit
The PGM Institute, focusing on applications for platinum group metals, was unveiled in the Lingang Special Area of Shanghai Free Trade Zone on Wednesday afternoon.
The institute opened at the inaugurating PPMC Summit that attracted dozens of industrial leaders and top researchers. The summit is named after PPMC, China's first technology center focused on platinum group metals, which opened last year also in Lingang.
Platinum group metals, or platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium and iridium, play vital parts in our daily lives. They are used extensively in catalytic converters, "green" hydrogen production, fuel cells for electric vehicles, fine jewellery, and anticancer drugs, among other fields.
The PPMC Summit is named after China's first technology center focused on the platinum group metals.
The PGM Institute aims to attract top experts from around the world to build a first-class talent pool, joining forces from industry, academia and research to build an international technology and innovation platform in the field of platinum group metals.
"We will take full advantage of the new PMG Institute, in coordination with the technology center PPMC and PGM technology company, to build a platform for research exchange, industrial upgrade, trade development and institutional innovation," Yang Jing, chief financial officer of the Lingang Group, said at the opening ceremony.
China is currently the world's largest consumer of platinum group metals, accounting for about 30 percent of global demand, and growing.
Song Yuqin, an industrial veteran and former vice chairman of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, expressed his high hopes for the institute in his keynote speech.
"Focusing on research services, the institute will build an international science and innovation platform that covers all sections of the industrial chain, accelerate applications of new technologies, develop the market environment for application on a large scale, help with technological advancement and promotion of platinum group metals around the world, and help with the industry's overall development and upgrade."
The PGM Institute was unveiled by Yang Jing (left), CFO of Lingang Group, and Zhao Yihuai, deputy director of the Lingang Special Area Administration.
