The National Data Bureau was officially listed after more than seven months of preparation.

　

On October 25th, the National Data Bureau was unveiled and the staff took photos.Beijing News reporter Pu Feng photo

The National Data Bureau, which has been preparing for more than seven months, was officially listed on October 25th.

"Deepen cooperation in digital technology innovation, digital transformation and digital city construction, and jointly promote the digital transformation of agriculture, manufacturing and service industries, so that more countries can achieve industrial upgrading and release development momentum by developing the digital economy." Recently, during the third "Belt and Road" international cooperation summit forum, Liu Liehong made his first public speech as the new director of the National Data Bureau.

At present, Liu Liehong is the director of the National Data Bureau, and Shen Zhulin is the deputy director of the National Data Bureau. 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 integration, data elements, digital economy, infrastructure and public data. At present, there are dozens of people on the job, and the team will continue to expand with the official listing operation in the future. After the official listing of the National Bureau of Data, it may be upgraded to a management department in related fields in the future.

Many insiders believe that with the official unveiling of the National Data Bureau, the basic data system will be continuously improved and the utilization level of data resources will be improved. Data confirmation will also be conducive to the rapid development of industries such as AI big model.

Management personnel of the National Data Bureau are in place one after another.

With the continuous development of digital economy, data application and management have attracted much attention. The "Institutional Reform Plan of the State Council" issued in March this year clearly established the National 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 28th, the newly established National Data Bureau welcomed its first director. According to the news released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the State Council appointed Liu Liehong as the director of the National Data Bureau. Liu Liehong previously worked in the electronic information industry for a long time. In 2018, Liu Liehong was transferred to the post of Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Cyber Security and Informatization Committee and Deputy Director of the National Internet Information Office. Two years later, Liu Liehong returned to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a member of the Party Group and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Subsequently, he took charge of China Unicom in 2021.

During his two years in charge of China Unicom, Liu Liehong brought a new atmosphere to this basic operator enterprise, and also provided new ideas for the business transformation of China Unicom, which improved the reputation of China Unicom.

With the continuous clarity of the organizational structure, the management personnel of the National Data Bureau are in place one after another. On October 11th, Shen Zhulin was appointed as the deputy director of the National Bureau of Data. Previously, he served as the deputy inspector of the High-tech Industry Department of the National Development and Reform Commission and the director of the Innovation and High-tech Development Department. He has long been concerned about the data field and regards data as economic resources and strategic resources.

At present, the National Data Bureau has dozens of on-the-job personnel, and will continue to expand its team with the official listing operation in the future. After the official listing of the National Bureau of Data, it may be upgraded to a management department in related fields in the future.

Recently, the "General Guide for Recruitment of Civil Servants for the 2024 Examination of Central Organs and Their Directly Affiliated Institutions" was released, in which several positions involved the National Data Bureau. The main work contents of each position included: engaging in data governance and development policy research, participating in international cooperation in the data field and digital economy; Participate in the research of data basic systems and policies, and participate in major strategies, major plans, major reforms and major activities related to data; 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 jointly promote digital industrialization and industrial digitalization.

The other two positions will participate in the promotion and demonstration of technology application in the data field, infrastructure planning and construction, etc., which require artificial intelligence research, practical experience and cryptography research experience respectively.

The data element market will usher in a new era of perfect system and environment.

The newly established National Bureau of Data is responsible for coordinating and promoting the construction of basic data systems, coordinating the integration, sharing, development and utilization of data resources, and coordinating the planning and construction of digital China, digital economy and digital society. It is managed by the National Development and Reform Commission.

"There is no name for the Big Data Bureau, indicating that the National Data Bureau will not be too limited and there are more possibilities for exploration." Many people in the industry believe that with the appointment of the director, the National Data Bureau will be officially listed, the construction of data infrastructure will be strengthened, and the data factor market will enter the fast lane of development.

Wang Yong, deputy director of Tsinghua University Economic Research Institute and president of Tsinghua University Minsheng Economic Research Institute, believes that data elements are new production factors in the digital age. In order to play the role of data as a new factor of production, it is very important to plan and deploy China’s data resources. This is also the reason why the National Data Bureau was specially set up in the reform plan of the party and state institutions. The establishment of the National Data Bureau will play an important role in overall planning for China’s next high-quality economic development by exerting the role of data elements.

Previously, 18 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guizhou, Fujian, Shandong, Zhejiang and Guangdong, also set up data management-related institutions. Luo Weidong, member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of City College of Zhejiang University, believes that it is definitely not an easy process to set up a new functional department. Now it is only the first step, at least it is clear that the country has a special institution to handle data resources affairs.

Ding Botao, deputy director of the Institute of Information Science of 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 utilization and sharing of national data resources. As a national government department, the National Data Bureau may not directly become a data supplier. In the future, an organization similar to Shanghai Big Data Center may be set up under the National Data Bureau to be responsible for sorting out the data of various commissions.

Ding Botao believes that another problem to be solved by the National Data Bureau is related to the national rules and systems in the field of digitalization. Most fundamental problems of data, including data ownership, data capitalization and data cross-border circulation, all involve state affairs, but local legislation can’t actually create rights. "The deeper the data development, the more we can find that many basic problems must be solved by the state departments, and there is no way for the localities to solve them."

"Data elements are the foundation and key elements of the development of the digital economy. The establishment of the National Data Bureau is an important measure for the country to strengthen the utilization of data elements and improve data security governance. In most cases, data does not exist independently, and it must be related to specific business areas, such as financial data, scientific research data, business data, etc. However, if we open up data islands, enhance data cross-domain interoperability, and strengthen data interoperability, we need effective governance mechanisms. The National Data Bureau is expected to enhance China’s ability to promote data exchange and circulation sharing, which is worth looking forward to. " Li Xiaodong, founder of Fuxi think tank, researcher of Institute of Computing Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of Tsinghua University Internet Governance Research Center, thinks.

It is expected to promote the development of AI big model industry.

At present, with the rapid rise of AI big model, the opening and confirmation of data resources for the development of AI industry is becoming more and more important.

Huang Tiejun, president of Beijing Zhiyuan Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and professor of Peking University Computer College, told the Beijing News reporter that the development of large-scale model is not only a simple market competition issue, but also needs government planning and design. For example, how is the data applied? At present, some data are captured through the internet to train the model; But this is only a small part of the data, and there are still a lot of data to be mined, such as the data of economic and social operation. This is a very important function of the data bureau, which is equivalent to data confirmation. The data is more complicated than land, and the price transaction and how to measure it need to be studied.

After the functions of the National Bureau of Data are defined, it will not only build basic data, but also make overall planning on the basis of overall planning of data resources, and vertical management will eventually promote the construction of digital China.

Among them, the establishment of data exchange has attracted much attention. "Article 20 of National Data" proposes to establish a compliant and efficient data element circulation and trading system that combines inside and outside the field, and guide the common development of various types of data trading places. Establish a standardized and efficient data trading place, highlight the compliance supervision and basic service functions of national data trading places, strengthen their public attributes and public welfare positioning, and standardize regional data trading places and industrial data trading platforms set up by various departments in various regions.

According to the "Digital China Development Report (2022)" released by the National Internet Information Office in April 2023, by the end of 2022, 48 data trading places had been established nationwide. However, from the current point of view, on-site transactions in data exchanges are still being explored. Some research institutions estimate that in 2022, the market size of data elements will exceed 90 billion yuan, and the market size of data transactions will be 12 billion yuan, of which the standardized on-site transactions will only account for 2%— 3%, the vast majority of data transactions took place off-site.

The above-mentioned people said that the industry is very much looking forward to the establishment of Beijing International Big Data Exchange, and all localities are relying on their own advantageous regional resources and local core enterprises to build data exchanges first. From the perspective of regional economy, Beijing should build a model room where data transactions are tried first. He revealed that at present, Beijing has acted early, and the industry’s leading enterprises have participated in the establishment of a number of standards and met with relevant technicians once a week.

Although all localities are preemptively building data trading highlands, there are still difficulties. An executive of a head company involved in the establishment of the Beijing Big Data Exchange told the Beijing News that the construction of the digital center is actually quite difficult. At present, all parties are exploring data transactions. As the fifth element, what are the characteristics of data, how to copy it, how to trace it, how to ensure that these data can generate value in the transaction process, and how to avoid piracy? The exchange involves many emerging things such as data leakage, data confirmation and data use.

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. Create a highland for data element policy, take the lead in establishing a structural separation operation mechanism for data resource holding rights, processing rights and product management rights, and improve the rational distribution of data income. Better cultivate and develop the data factor market and comprehensively deepen the development and utilization of public data.

The above-mentioned professionals involved in the formulation of national data standards believe that policies must be given priority and opportunities must be seized. Data is not only available to some enterprises, but also to every enterprise. How to confirm data and how to process data to generate value will be the track that all parties need to pay attention to in the next decade, which involves national and even global competition.