ANN/CHINA DAILY – China is poised to leverage its vast data reservoirs to drive new economic growth and expand data applications across sectors, as data emerges as a pivotal production factor propelling the digital economy’s high-quality development, experts highlighted.
Jiang Xiaojuan, head of the China Society of Industrial Economics and a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, underscored the pervasive influence of data in society, shaping resource allocation and economic dynamics.
Speaking at the Academic Conference on Digital Economy Development and Governance in Beijing, Jiang emphasised China’s position as the world’s leading data producer, urging enhanced efforts to harness data’s multiplier effects and foster diverse applications across industries while promoting the sharing and utilisation of public data.
Huang Yiping, dean of Peking University’s National School of Development, noted that despite the nascent stage of data element utilisation, there is a critical need to establish an orderly data trading mechanism, bolster data security, and fortify privacy safeguards.
China’s data output surged to 32.85 zettabytes in 2023, marking a 22.4 per cent annual increase, with core digital economy sectors contributing 10 per cent to GDP, according to the National Data Administration (NDA).
The NDA is advancing reforms to facilitate market-oriented data allocation, preparing to introduce eight guidelines encompassing data property rights, circulation, revenue distribution, security governance, and public and enterprise data development this year.
The NDA has also rolled out guidelines to expand data applications across 12 key sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, trade, transportation, and finance, underscoring the pivotal role of data in driving industrial transformation.
Industry experts stressed the importance of classifying data resources, defining data rights, exploring pricing mechanisms, and enhancing data circulation, transactions, and utilisation to drive industrial upgrades and create new economic value.
Ouyang Rihui, assistant dean of the China Centre for Internet Economy Research at the Central University of Finance and Economics, highlighted the integral role of data in enhancing production efficiency, optimising resource allocation, and fostering innovative business models across industries.
The integration of data with traditional sectors is seen as pivotal in unlocking economic and social value through effective market evaluation and trading, Ouyang added.
China’s comprehensive measures unveiled in December 2022 aimed at building foundational data systems are pivotal in unleashing data resource value.
These measures encompass establishing data property rights, facilitating data circulation and trading, revenue distribution, and enhancing security governance.
Globally, the digital economy is flourishing, with emerging industries and digital technologies like big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence driving innovation and integration with the real economy.
According to a white paper by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the digital economy in major economies grew to over USD33 trillion, reflecting a year-on-year increase of eight per cent, underscoring its substantial impact on global GDP.
