Policy push to aid in data utilization

Supportive government policies will better stimulate data utilization by enterprises and boost the high-quality development of China's data industry, experts said.

Their comments follow a recent series of government guidelines in this regard.

"Clearly defined rights of data can stimulate the vitality of enterprises and enhance their confidence and motivation to develop and utilize data resources. Supportive policies encourage data circulation and trading, providing a policy guarantee that is conducive to releasing the value potential," said Wang Peng, a deputy researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

The new policies encourage the cultivation of diversified business entities in the data industry, including data resource enterprises, data technology enterprises, and data service enterprises. These provide enterprises with diversified development opportunities and promote their active participation in the high-quality development of the data industry, Wang added.

Several government departments, including the National Data Administration and Cyberspace Administration of China, jointly released guidelines to guarantee the development of enterprise data resources and the data industry recently.

China aims to complete building the main structure of a national data infrastructure by 2029, which is part of the country's broader push to build a unified national data market and develop the digital economy, according to a guideline issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the NDA and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday.

There is ample room for improving the quality and efficiency of data resource development and utilization, as the data industry is still at the primary stage, Chen Ronghui, deputy director of the NDA, said at a news conference in December.

The NDA has also urged relevant departments to support the development of data enterprises, and promote the construction of an industrial system in which large, medium-sized and small enterprises grow together.

The effort aims to encourage upstream and downstream enterprises to collaborate in innovation, so as to improve the efficiency of the industry chain, said Zhang Huixing, an official at the NDA.

Wang said the development of China's data industry will focus on the construction and improvement of infrastructure to provide solid support for the circulation and use of data elements.

"The construction of data infrastructure is expected to improve the efficiency of data circulation and utilization, reduce the circulation cost, provide enterprises with convenient and efficient data services and promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, promoting high-quality economic development," Wang said.

Zou Dongsheng, head of the China Data Analysis Committee, a data industry association, said that construction of data infrastructure will speed up the industrialization of the data industry as China will pay attention to the synergistic development of the upstream and downstream of the data industry chain, forming a sustainable data industry ecosystem.

Zou said that the data industry still faces challenges that need to be addressed. "For example, the integration and sharing of data resources is insufficient, which leads to inefficient use of data resources. And the structural contradiction between the supply and demand of data analysis talent makes it difficult to meet the demand for talent in various industries."

Tan Guoling contributed to this story.