Guizhou emerging as big data juggernaut

The Global Big Data Exchange in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, is ratcheting up efforts to facilitate the circulation and transaction of data elements, as the country has issued a guideline on building basic systems for data and putting data resources to better use.

As the country's first big data exchange, the Global Big Data Exchange in Guiyang has been a pioneer in bolstering the flow and trading of data resources across the country. So far, the exchange has attracted 451 data merchants, among whom 228 come from Guizhou. A total of 157 deals have been concluded, with the accumulative transaction value reaching 382 million yuan ($56.5 million).

It has provided 668 products covering big data, computing power and algorithms by making use of advanced technologies like blockchain. Currently, the number of data products and services along with algorithm tools stands at 499 and 125, respectively.

Guizhou has become a front-runner in China's big data industry since it was approved to host the country's first comprehensive big data pilot area in 2016. According to the Big Data Development Administration of Guizhou, the annual turnover of data circulation and transactions in the province should surpass 10 billion yuan by 2025.

Established in 2015, the Guiyang exchange will continue to improve the industrial chain for data circulation and trading as well as step up policy support and data supply so as to create a data circulation and trading market system to make data transactions more regulated and market-oriented and fully unleash the full value of data.

It aims to become a hub for China's data element circulation, and develop into a national big data exchange. Meanwhile, more efforts should be made to explore the data pricing mechanism and value assessment, as well as diversified commercial models of data trading.

Experts said data elements have become a key engine for promoting development of digital economy. Data, as a new type of production factor, are a basic and strategic resource of a country.

China rolled out 20 key measures to help build basic systems for data in December, as part of its broader drive to facilitate the development of digital economy and inject fresh impetus into economic growth.

The country's systems for data will involve the establishment of a property system, a circulation and trading system, an income distribution system and a security governance system.

"Data elements are the key factors driving artificial intelligence and big data. Facilitating the circulation of data resources will enable data producers and holders to transfer data to users through data trading, empower the real economy and unleash the value of data elements," said Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School.

Blockchain technology should be leveraged to further confirm protection for data-related rights, which is the prerequisite for data transactions and circulation, Pan said.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has unveiled a plan for big data's development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), envisaging a scale topping 3 trillion yuan by the end of 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of around 25 percent.

Saying data resources serve as the basis of digital economy development, Ma Yanxin, a researcher at the Law School of South China Normal University, added that circulation and transaction of data factors are currently mainly concentrated in the sectors of electric power and finance, and more efforts should be made to enrich data transaction scenarios.