The State Data Bureau was officially launched after more than 7 months of preparation [many experts said that the promotion of data infrastructure system construction will be strengthened, and the data element market will enter the fast lane of development]
The National Data Bureau, which has been preparing for more than seven months, was officially launched on October 7.
"Deepen cooperation in digital technology innovation, digital transformation, and digital city construction, and work together to promote the digital transformation of agriculture, manufacturing, and service industries, so that more countries can achieve industrial upgrading and release development momentum through the development of digital economy." Recently, during the third "Belt and Road" Forum for International Cooperation, Liu Liehong spoke out for the first time as the new director of the State Data Administration.
At present, Liu Liehong is the director of the State Data Administration, and Shen Zhulin is the deputy director of the National Data Administration. According to the Beijing News reporter, the initial organizational structure of the National Data Bureau is divided into five groups according to the work of synthesis, data elements, digital economy, infrastructure and public data, and there are dozens of personnel on the job, and the team will continue to expand with the official operation in the future. After the official listing of the National Data Bureau, it may be upgraded to a management department in related fields in the future.
A number of industry insiders believe that with the official unveiling of the State Data Bureau, the data basic system will continue to improve, and the level of data resource utilization will be improved. Data rights confirmation will also be conducive to the rapid development of industries such as AI large models.
The management of the National Data Bureau is in place
With the continuous development of the digital economy, data application and management have attracted attention. The State Council Institutional Reform Plan, released in March this year, explicitly established the State Data Bureau for the first time. As one of the highlights of the new round of institutional reform, the National Data Bureau has attracted much attention since its establishment.
On July 7, the newly formed National Data Administration welcomed its first director. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the State Council appointed Liu Liehong as director of the State Data Administration. Liu Liehong previously worked in the electronic information industry for a long time. In 28, Liu Liehong was transferred to the Office of the Central Cybersecurity and Information Commission and the Deputy Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China. Two years later, Liu Liehong returned to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology system and served as a member of the leading party group and vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He then took the helm of China Unicom in 2018.
During his two years at the helm of China Unicom, Liu Liehong has brought a new atmosphere to this basic operator company, and also provided new ideas for China Unicom's business transformation, which has improved China Unicom's reputation.
As the organizational structure became clearer, the management staff of the National Data Bureau were gradually put in place. Shen Zhulin was appointed deputy director of the National Data Administration on October 10, after serving as deputy inspector of the National Development and Reform Commission's Department of High-tech Industries and director of the Department of Innovation and High-tech Development. He has long been interested in the field of data, viewing data as an economic resource, a strategic resource.
The National Data Administration currently has dozens of staff on duty, and will continue to expand its team in the future with the official operation. After the official listing of the National Data Bureau, it may be upgraded to a management department in related fields in the future.
Recently, the "2024 Recruitment Guidelines for Civil Servants Recruited by Central Organs and Their Directly Subordinate Institutions" was released, in which many positions involve the State Data Bureau, and the main work content of each position includes: engaging in data governance and development policy research, participating in international cooperation in the data field and digital economy; Participate in research on data infrastructure systems and policies, and participate in major data-related strategies, major plans, major reforms, major activities, etc.; Engaged in data resource management and development and utilization promotion; Participate in the research and formulation of development strategies, plans and policies related to the digital economy, and coordinate the promotion of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization.
Two other positions will participate in the data field technology application promotion demonstration, infrastructure planning and construction and other related work, respectively requiring artificial intelligence research, practical experience and cryptography research experience.
The data element market will usher in a new era of institutional and environmental improvement
The newly established National Data Bureau is responsible for coordinating and promoting the construction of data infrastructure systems, coordinating the integration, sharing, development and utilization of data resources, and coordinating the promotion of digital China, digital economy, and digital society planning and construction, which is managed by the National Development and Reform Commission.
"The name of the Big Data Bureau shows that the National Data Bureau will not be too limited, and there are more possibilities for exploration." A number of industry insiders believe that with the arrival of the director and the official launch of the National Data Bureau, the construction of the data infrastructure system will be strengthened, and the data element market will enter the fast lane of development.
Wang Yong, deputy director of the Institute of Economics of Tsinghua University and dean of the Minsheng Economic Research Institute of Tsinghua University, believes that data elements are a new type of production factor in the digital age. In order to give play to the role of new production factors of data, it is very important to coordinate China's data resources and plan and deploy the use of data resources. This is also the reason why the State Data Bureau was specially established in the reform program of the Party and state institutions. The establishment of the State Data Bureau will play an important role in the overall planning of China to drive high-quality economic development by playing the role of data elements.
Previously, 18 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guizhou, Fujian, Shandong, Zhejiang and Guangdong, have also established data management related institutions. Luo Weidong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of Zhejiang City College, believes that the formation of a new functional department is certainly not an easy process, and now it is only the first step, at least to clarify that the state has a special agency to deal with data resource affairs.
Ding Botao, deputy director of the Information Research Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said that the National Data Bureau may solve two problems in the future, the first is to integrate data resources at the national level and promote the use and sharing of national data resources. As a national government department, the National Data Administration may not directly become a data provider, and in the future, the National Data Administration may set up an institution similar to the Shanghai Big Data Center to organize the data of various commissions and offices.
Ding Botao believes that another problem to be solved by the National Data Bureau is related to national rules and systems in the field of digitalization. Most of the fundamental issues of data, including the three rights of data, data assetization and cross-border circulation, involve state power, and local legislation cannot actually establish power. "The deeper the data development, the more we can find that many basic problems must be solved by the national departments, and the local government cannot solve them."
"Data elements are the foundation and key element of the development of the digital economy, and the establishment of the National Data Bureau, whether it is to strengthen the use of data elements or improve data security governance, is an important national measure." Data does not exist independently in most cases, it must be related to specific business fields, such as financial data, scientific research data, business data, etc., but if you break through data silos, enhance cross-domain interoperability, strengthen data interoperability, and need an effective governance mechanism, the National Data Bureau is expected to be able to improve China's ability to promote data exchange, circulation and sharing, which is worth looking forward to. Li Xiaodong, founder of Fuxi Think Tank, researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and director of the Internet Governance Research Center of Tsinghua University, said.
It is expected to promote the development of AI large model industry
At present, with the rapid rise of AI large models, the opening and confirmation of data resources for the development of the AI industry are becoming more and more important.
Huang Tiejun, president of Beijing Zhiyuan Institute of Artificial Intelligence and professor of the School of Computer Science of Peking University, said in an interview with the Beijing News that the development of large models is not only a simple market competition problem, but also requires the government's planning and design. For example, how is the data used? At present, some data is scraped through the Internet to train the model; But this is only a small part of the data, there is still a large amount of data to mine, such as economic and social operation data, this is a very important function of the data bureau, equivalent to data confirmation, data is more complex than land, price transactions, how to measure, all need to be studied.
After the functions of the State Data Administration are clarified, it will not only carry out the construction of basic data, but also carry out overall planning on the basis of overall planning of data resources, and vertical management will ultimately promote the construction of digital China.
Among them, the establishment of relevant data exchanges has attracted much attention. The "20 National Data Articles" propose to establish a compliant and efficient data element circulation and trading system that combines both on-site and off-site to guide the common development of various types of data trading venues. Build standardized and efficient data trading venues, highlight the compliance supervision and basic service functions of national-level data trading venues, strengthen their public attributes and public interest positioning, and standardize regional data trading venues and industry-based data trading platforms established by various regions and departments.
According to the Digital China Development Report (2023) released by the Cyberspace Administration of China in April 4, by the end of 2022, 2022 data trading venues had been established across the country. But for now, data trading is still being explored. Some research institutions estimate that in 48, the scale of the data element market will exceed 2022 billion yuan, and the scale of the data trading market will be 900 billion yuan, of which the proportion of standardized on-exchange transactions is only 120%-2%, and the vast majority of data transactions occur over-the-counter.
The above-mentioned people said that the industry is very much looking forward to the establishment of the Beijing International Big Data Exchange, and all localities are relying on their own advantageous regional resources and local core enterprises to preemptively build data exchanges. From a regional economic point of view, Beijing should build a model room for data trading first-mover pilots, he said, and Beijing has acted early, with leading companies in the industry participating in the establishment of a number of standards and meeting with relevant technical personnel every week.
Although all localities are preemptively creating a data transaction highland, there are still difficulties. A senior executive of a leading company involved in the establishment of the Beijing Big Data Exchange told the Beijing News reporter that the construction of the digital center is actually relatively difficult, at present, all parties are exploring data transactions, data as the fifth element, what are the characteristics, how to copy, how to trace, how to ensure that these data can generate value in the transaction process, while avoiding piracy and other problems will be considered in the construction, the exchange involves data leakage, data rights confirmation, data use and many other emerging things.
Beijing pointed out that it is necessary to promote the compliant and efficient circulation and use of data, empower the real economy, and accelerate the construction of a global digital economy benchmark city. Build a policy highland for data elements, take the lead in establishing a structural separation operation mechanism for data resource ownership, processing and use rights, and product management rights, and improve the rational distribution of data revenues. Better cultivate and develop the market for data elements, and comprehensively deepen the development and utilization of public data.
The above-mentioned industry insiders involved in the formulation of national data standards believe that policies must be taken first and opportunities seized. Data is not only available to some enterprises, but every enterprise has data, how to confirm data rights, how to process data to make it valuable, will be the track that all parties need to pay attention to in the next decade, which involves national and even global competition.
Beijing News reporter Chen Weicheng, Cheng Zijiao, Wei Yingzi
Beijing News, October 2023, 10, A26