A staff member watches a video at the exhibition center of the national big data (Guizhou) comprehensive pilot zone in southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)
BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's data market has embarked on a fast track of innovative development in 2023, with institutional reform being unfolded across the country.
The scale of data trading continues reaching a new high. According to a recent report released at the Global Data Ecosystem Conference 2023, China's data trading recorded a market size of 87.68 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for 13.4 percent of the world's total.
Meanwhile, China's rich data resources are being integrated into multiple fields such as research and development, production, circulation, and consumption. This integration significantly enhances production efficiency and stimulates the rise of new business models and forms.
-- Accelerated institutional reform
In December 2022, China issued opinions on building basic systems for data to give full play to the role of data resources. This marked the first time that China has introduced systematic measures to deliver the value of data resources as production factors and accelerated a reform in the data market.
Guided by the national policy, cities like Beijing and Shanghai have unveiled a series of data-related measures since the start of 2023.
For example, Beijing sets the goal to make the data market size reach 200 billion yuan by 2030. The city also vows to complete its pilot work in building national basic systems for data by 2030 and form clusters of data service industries.
Shanghai proposes to create a data industrial scale of 500 billion yuan by 2025, with an average compound annual growth rate of 15 percent.
At the same time, authority institutions have been established to coordinate data resources. In October, China inaugurated National Data Administration (NDA), which is responsible for setting up data-related fundamental mechanisms, coordinating the integration, sharing, development, and application of data resources.
Local governments have also set up big data management institutions. As of August 2023, 27 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have established specialized provincial-level institutions for managing big data. These institutions have proven effective in enhancing the efficiency and benefits of integrating, developing and utilizing data resources.
-- Booming market
Promoted by policies, China's data trading volume continues reaching a new high.
As of November 2023, Beijing International Data Exchange has issued 27 certificates for data asset registration and seen data trading value reach more than two billion yuan, said Jiang Guangzhi, director of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology.
Likewise, the total value of data trading in Shanghai Data Exchange (SDE) is expected to hit one billion yuan in 2023, with the number of listed data products standing at about 2,000 by the end of the year, according to Tang Qifeng, the general manager of SDE.
The growth in data trading can be attributed to the vigorous development of China's data market. According to statistics from China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, five new data exchanges were established in China from January to August, bringing the total number of data exchanges nationwide to 53. More than 12,000 types of data products have been launched by active data trading institutions.
Meanwhile, this year's explosive application of generative artificial intelligence represented by ChatGPT has demanded increased supply of data.
Altogether, policy incentives and practical needs arising from technological evolution are bringing new opportunities for the future development of data resources. According to projections by China Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, the scale of the country's data market is expected to grow at a compound rate of 28.99 percent from 2022 to 2025 and reach 174.9 billion yuan in 2025.
-- Transforming into productivity
China's data output increased 22.7 percent year on year to 8.1ZB in 2022, accounting for 10.5 percent of the global total and ranking the second in the world, says a report on Digital China development in 2022 released by the Cyberspace Administration of China in April. At present, the enormous data resources are being integrated into multiple fields, resulting in higher production efficiency.
Data is utilized to drive the upgrading of the manufacturing industry. For instance, Nanjing Iron & Steel United Co., Ltd., by applying data perception and integration systems throughout its production process, has reduced its costs of raw materials, logistics, energy consumption, etc., by 480 million yuan.
The application of data also speeds up the implementation of new business models and forms. In the financial sector, data is used to make differentiated pricing, targeted marketing, and intelligent investment guidance. In the new retail sector, data-based intelligent operation provides tailor-made consumer services while integrating online and offline channels.
The application scenarios of data resources continue to diversify, as sectors such as finance, internet, manufacturing, health, transportation, and education have a growing demand for data.
By the end of 2026, the application scenarios of data resources should be expanded, with the data industry to register an annual growth rate of over 20 percent, and data-driven new business formats should become a new driving force for economic growth, according to a draft action plan for data resources from 2024 to 2026 recently issued by the NDA.
Spurring by policies, new technologies, and market demands, the scale of China's data market is set to reach 127.34 billion yuan in 2023 and increase to 159.18 billion yuan in 2024, according to analysts with Zhongshang Industry Research Institute. (Edited by Su Dan with Xinhua Silk Road, sudan@xinhua.org)
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