Data is the new oil and China has launched a new agency to keep it ahead in the digital age. The National Data Administration (NDA) will build on China’s artificial intelligence and digital economy aspirations, government officials say.
The NDA was first introduced in March as President Xi Jinping’s newest force to digitize the country’s government services, build smart cities and encourage easier data sharing between public and private entities.
The NDA reports to the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s all-powerful economic planner. It will assume some responsibilities previously assigned to the Cyberspace Administration of China, the South China Morning Post reports.
One of the key responsibilities will be to create the infrastructure and standards for data sharing. China is one of the largest data generators in the world; In 2022, it generated 8.1 zettabytes of data, second only to the United States. This data, however, resides on the servers of thousands of public and private entities.
The new agency will also be tasked with growing China’s digital economy. The East Asian country has become a digital powerhouse, with some success stories like Tencent, Bytedance and Alibaba as market leaders in their industries. Chinese government data puts the value of the country’s digital economy at 50.2 trillion yuan ($690 billion).
But Jinping’s biggest motivation for launching the new agency is the rise of AI. China and the Western world are in a race to master new technology, a race that has led to new restrictions on trade in commodities and technology between the two blocs. AI runs on data, and by improving the way his country collects, stores and shares data, Jinping will give China a big boost in this race.
“I think the most direct trigger [for setting up the data agency] It is artificial intelligence. As China is interested in developing AI, it needs to make its big data relevant and accessible,” said Zeng Liaoyuan, professor of ICT at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
Liu Liehong will head the new agency. The IT industry veteran was most recently chairman of China Unicom, the state-owned telecommunications giant that is the world’s sixth-largest mobile phone provider.
