Today (October 25) morning, the newly established National Data Bureau this year was officially unveiled. Previously (October 18), Liu Liehong, the first director of the National Data Administration, made his first public appearance at the high-level forum on digital economy of the third "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum.
Recently, the National Data Administration has taken frequent actions, indicating that major reforms in China's data field are gaining momentum as the digital economy continues to surge forward. It is reported that the National Data Agency’s preparatory stage is divided into five groups according to the work of synthesis, data elements, digital economy, infrastructure and public data. Judging from the recently released "Recruitment Brochure for Civil Servants Recruited by Central Agencies and Their Directly Affiliated Agencies for the 2024 Examination", the multiple positions required by the National Data Bureau echo this. This also means that many major reforms in the data field may be promoted simultaneously.
Some institutional research reports stated that relevant policies such as the inclusion of data assets in the table have been released, and the National Data Bureau has been unveiled and is expected to release a series of incentive policies and implementation standards.
Experts predict that by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the size of my country's data element circulation market will reach one trillion yuan. Data trading is one of the important ways to realize the elementalization of data resources, and it is necessary to break through the data supply blockage in "digital and real integration". This may be another important task before the National Data Administration.
Two leaders of the National Data Administration have appeared
The reporter noticed that currently, two leaders of the National Data Bureau have appeared. The first director, Liu Liehong, was previously the party secretary and chairman of China Unicom, and deputy director Shen Zhulin was previously the director of the High Technology Department of the National Development and Reform Commission.
In March 2023, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Plan for the Reform of Party and State Institutions." It was proposed to establish a National Data Bureau. Responsible for coordinating and promoting the construction of data infrastructure systems, coordinating the integration, sharing and development and utilization of data resources, coordinating the promotion of digital China, digital economy, digital society planning and construction, etc., and is managed by the National Development and Reform Commission.
The specific responsibilities of the National Data Administration include: researching and formulating digital China construction plans, coordinating and promoting the informatization of public services and social governance, coordinating and promoting the construction of smart cities, coordinating the development, utilization and sharing of important national information resources, and promoting cross-industry and cross-department interconnection of information resources. The National Development and Reform Commission is responsible for coordinating and promoting the development of the digital economy, organizing and implementing the national big data strategy, promoting the construction of basic systems for data elements, and promoting the layout of digital infrastructure.
Judging from the recently released "Recruitment Brochure for Civil Servants Recruited by Central Agencies and Their Directly Affiliated Agencies for the 2024 Examination", the multiple positions required by the National Data Bureau echo this. That is, the main work content of each position at the National Data Administration includes: engaging in data governance and development policy research, participating in international cooperation in the data field and digital economy; participating in data basic systems and policy research, participating in data-related major strategies, major plans, major reforms, major activities, etc.; engaging in data resource management and development and utilization promotion; participating in research and formulation of development strategies, plans and policies related to the digital economy, collaboratively promoting digital industrialization and industrial digitization, and undertaking related comprehensive management work.
The other two positions will be involved in the promotion and demonstration of technology applications in the data field, infrastructure planning and construction and other related work. They require artificial intelligence research and practical experience and cryptography research experience respectively.
China will "activate" trillions of data assets
Experts said that the establishment of the National Data Bureau is a special move for China to adapt to the digital economy, which will help develop the digital economy and seize the new wave of global technological development.
At present, the digital economy has become an important source of economic growth for countries around the world. The position of my country's digital economy in the national economy is more important and stable, and its supporting role is more obvious.
Data shows that China's digital economy will exceed 50 trillion yuan in 2022, accounting for more than 40% of GDP. It will continue to maintain a high growth rate of 10% and become a new engine for stable economic growth.
Wang Jiandong, deputy director of the Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Shanghai Securities News that by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the size of my country's data element circulation market will reach one trillion yuan, which is a huge blue ocean. The "golden key" to open this blue ocean is to establish a policy "closed loop" of data registration and confirmation, valuation and asset inclusion in the balance sheet.
"In the short term, the data infrastructure system will give rise to a data trading market of 300 billion to 500 billion yuan. In the medium and long term, the potential size of the data asset-related market will be more than 60 trillion yuan." Wang Jiandong said.
The reporter learned that in order to accelerate the development of the digital economy, some major measures have been implemented this year, including supporting measures to accelerate the establishment of a digital asset price mechanism. In August this year, the Ministry of Finance issued the "Interim Provisions on Accounting Treatment Related to Enterprise Data Resources" which will come into effect on January 1 next year, further paving the way for the inclusion of data resource confirmation assets in corporate financial statements, and also indicating that the relevant policy framework is becoming increasingly mature.
Beijing, Guizhou, Shanghai and other places have successively issued local policies to promote the development of the data element market, adapting measures to local conditions, piloting and seizing opportunities to cultivate industries. Among them, since the beginning of this year, the data transaction volume of the Shanghai Data Exchange has continued to rise. In August, the monthly transaction volume exceeded 100 million yuan, and the "Shanghai model" of data transactions has gradually taken shape.
On October 19, the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the "Shanghai Action Plan to Further Promote New Infrastructure Construction (2023-2026)", further expanding the key areas into five aspects: "new networks, new computing power, new data, new facilities, and new terminals". Among them, in terms of building high-quality data infrastructure integrating digital intelligence, it is proposed to take the lead in creating a national data trading platform.
Pu Songtao, deputy director of the Institute of Information and Software Industry of CCID Think Tank, told reporters that with policy support, various elements such as talents, funds, and data will accelerate the concentration of talents, funds, data, and other elements in the digital economy, and the development of my country's digital economy will enter the "fast lane."
Elementalization of data resources opens up the data supply blockage of "digital and real fusion"
Data trading is one of the important ways to realize the essentialization of data resources. At present, it is still a reality that the data trading mechanism is immature and the supply and demand matching efficiency is low.
Data from the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System shows that there are 52 data trading institutions of various types registered across the country. However, due to the significant characteristics of data such as complexity of ownership, relative value, and time-varying content, data trading institutions also face prominent problems such as difficulty in implementing models, difficulty in scaling up, difficulty in risk management and control, and difficulty in compliance operations.
On the one hand, the high cost of data compliance has caused companies to "dare not trade." In order to avoid potential risks such as data ownership and data security, companies with high-quality data do not dare to trade data externally, resulting in insufficient effective supply. On the other hand, reasonable pricing of data will hardly cause companies to be “unwilling to trade.” Since the value of data is difficult to directly measure, it is difficult for both supply and demand parties to reach a more reasonable transaction price, and the data source has insufficient motivation to trade data. According to statistics from relevant agencies, in 2022, my country's data transaction volume will be only 70 billion yuan, which is difficult to meet the data needs of enterprises.
In this regard, experts from the National Information Center said that to vigorously promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, we must systematically resolve the practical dilemma of "enterprises having difficulty in using data", achieve high-quality data supply through efficient market allocation, and allow real economy enterprises to obtain urgently needed data elements in digital transformation at a lower cost. We should give full play to my country's massive data advantages and take multiple measures to stimulate the innovative development momentum of "digital and real integration".