Unleashing value of public data assets essential for fostering digital economy

China has one of the fastest growing digital economies in the world. A recent report shows that China’s digital economy exceeded 50 trillion yuan ($6.91 trillion) in 2022, accounting for 41.5 percent of the country’s GDP, making it the world’s second-largest digital economy.

However, China’s data assets are facing such problems as the lack of high-quality supply, the lack of a clear path for compliance-based use, and the insufficient added value after application.

The Ministry of Finance recently issued a guideline document, further improving the data asset management system. It stipulates that greater efforts should be made to expand the scenarios for the application of data assets, and improve and enrich their economic and social value.

According to the document, the government should guide the establishment of a development and utilization and income distribution mechanism for public data assets. On the basis of the laws on data security and personal information protection, the country should fully consider the particularity of data asset measurement and evaluation, and take proper measures to measure data assets and protect public data resources.

Ways should be explored on how to use public data resources to serve public undertakings. As long as the use of data serves the public and produces positive effects, such as for scientific research, public health, environmental protection and other undertakings, priority should be given to the use of public data, with simplified application procedures. The country should clarify the scope and rules of data security supervision, and avoid restricting the use of data assets for public purposes on the grounds of security concerns. The management of data assets should effectively protect personal information.