By hannover-web.com The Central Government Unveils a Top-Level Design for Public Data Resource Development
Awakening “Sleeping” Public Data
“This is the first systematic deployment by the central government concerning the development and utilization of public data resources.”
As the National Day holiday came to an end, government data management agencies and data service companies across various regions launched into action, organizing materials and conducting research.
“Just this morning, the provincial team arrived at our data element industry park for a survey,” said the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Government Affairs and Big Data from a prefecture-level city in Sichuan during a phone interview on the evening of October 11. With a busy schedule ahead, he quickly hung up to attend to incoming guests. Meanwhile, Fang Yi, the Chairman of Daily Interactions, has been shuttling between meetings, interviews, and surveys, with his timetable tightly packed. This flurry of activity is linked to a newly released top-level design document concerning public data resource development and utilization.
On October 9, the Central Committee and the State Council officially published the “Opinions on Accelerating the Development and Utilization of Public Data Resources,” which aims to establish the regulatory framework for public data development and utilization by 2025, with a more mature system by 2030.
“This marks the first time the central government has made a systematic commitment to the development and utilization of public data resources,” said Liu Liehong, Director of the National Data Bureau, during a recent press conference. Just three days after the release of the “Opinions,” two drafts of complementary policies were presented to the public, which gradually clarified the policy framework for public data resource development and utilization, drawing significant interest in how to awaken these “sleeping” data resources.
Clear Strategies for Sharing, Open Access, and Authoritative Operation
As the fifth production factor following land, labor, capital, and technology, data has gained increasing attention in the market.
In December 2022, the Central Committee and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Building a Data Fundamental System to Better Leverage Data Elements,” known as “Data Twenty,” underlining its importance. This document details the need for a classification and tiered rights confirmation system for public, enterprise, and personal data.
Public data refers to the data resources generated by government and public institutions in their lawful duties or while providing public services. This ranges from air quality in cities to water and electricity usage in neighborhoods, as well as broader economic indicators like GDP and CPI. The “Opinions” continue to uphold this concept. Fang Yi, who has spent over a decade focusing on data intelligent services, noted that most of Daily Interactions’ data service products derive from their proprietary data and that there’s limited access to public data sourced from government or other institutions. However, with extensive experience in dealing with various kinds of data, he recognizes their value.
“Within the industry, public data is considered to be a highly valuable resource,” Fang remarked. He emphasized the larger scale, objectivity, and accuracy of public data compared to enterprise or platform-specific data, which is often collected in real-time and thus more vibrant. “If we can combine the openness, authority, and accuracy of public data with the dynamic nature of internet platform data, we can better realize the value of data as a resource.”
The notion of “public data” first emerged in the State Council’s “Action Plan for Promoting Big Data Development” back in 2015. Over the years, public data has played a significant role in supporting digital government initiatives. However, Liu Liehong acknowledged that there are notable challenges related to resource supply, innovation in application, and equity distribution, citing the issues of deep-seated apprehensions and hesitance in effectively utilizing public data resources and highlighting a fundamental supply-side challenge.
The “National Data Resource Survey Report (2023)” released in May indicates that China’s open public data volume has exceeded a 16% year-on-year increase in 2023. Moreover, 18.6% of platform enterprises and 51% of central enterprises have utilized government-open data during their data development processes. Yet, only 2.9% of the data generated in 2023 was preserved, and nearly 40% of the stored data remained unused for over a year, showcasing a significant under-utilization of data value that requires urgent exploration.
In response, the “Opinions” focus initially on public data resource supply, outlining three methods: sharing, open access, and authoritative operation. Chen Ronghui, Deputy Director of the National Data Bureau, explained that these provisions aim to implement strategies based on demand and data requirements, which not only accommodate various developmental needs but also propose specific management guidelines. “The ultimate goal is to systematically address the challenge of ensuring public data availability,” he stated.
“Sharing” is directed towards government agencies at all levels, aiming to resolve issues related to cross-level, cross-regional, cross-system, inter-departmental, and cross-business data exchange. On the other hand, “open access” targets businesses and the public, stressing orderly and legal data or dataset release while safeguarding national data security and protecting personal information and trade secrets.
As of July this year, 243 provincial and municipal local governments had launched open data platforms, with over 370,000 effective datasets available, marking a 44-fold increase in the last eight years. The “Opinions” emphasize the need to strengthen the public data open access policy framework and prioritize the release of data closely related to people’s livelihoods and pressing social needs. “These measures will undoubtedly continue to enhance the quality and effectiveness of public data openness,” he added.
For sensitive data with high potential value, it’s crucial to leverage specialized expertise, incur some governance and development costs, and create data products and services available for all societal needs. This is where authoritative operation comes into play.
“Developing and utilizing public data resources is the entry point for the allocation of data elements and is central to the broader utilization of social data resources,” predicted Meng Qingguo, Executive Director of the Computational Social Science and National Governance Laboratory at Tsinghua University. He believes the “Opinions” will activate an existing 70-80% of public data resources within society, which will deeply influence the development and utilization of enterprise and personal data resources.
Strengthening Regulations on Public Data Authoritative Operations
“Authoritative operation of public data resources will be the primary and most effective method to expand their supply,” Meng stated. He explained that, compared to “sharing” and “open access,” “authoritative operation” holds significant advantages in balancing the public good nature of public data with the issue of profitability, as well as the protection of data information while releasing data’s inherent value.
He noted that public data originates from the public administration and services of government departments and public enterprises, and without conditions for unconditional use, the motivation for development and utilization may diminish and lack sustainability. With authorized operations, operational entities can provide paid services under governmental guidance and authority, significantly invigorating the public data market. “Additionally, by authorizing specialized agencies to operate public data under the ‘appropriate separation of management and operation’ principle, we can orderly involve social capital and maximize the value of public data elements.”
Previously, the “Data Twenty” mentioned the need to promote the implementation of a public data rights confirmation and authorization mechanism. The newly released “Opinions” encourage the exploration of public data authoritative operations, advocating for the inclusion of such operations in the decision-making framework of “three major and one big,” while emphasizing the need to clarify authorization conditions, operational models, timeframes, exit mechanisms, and safety management responsibilities. According to Zhang Wang, Director of the Data Resource Division at the National Data Bureau, this represents a significant move towards establishing a decentralized data rights operational mechanism and an important breakthrough in classifying and tiered authorizing public, enterprise, and personal data, thus fulfilling the spirit of the “Data Twenty.”
According to publicly available information, over 50 specialized policy documents concerning public data authoritative operations have been issued across various regions. Most of these were released after the announcement of the “Data Twenty,” with a significant number published in 2023. “As a result, 2023 has been dubbed the ‘Year of Public Data Authorization’ within the industry,” Fang Yi noted, emphasizing the evident anticipation from various sectors regarding public data resource authorization operations.
Since the National Data Bureau was established nearly a year ago, Fang has maintained productive communication as a representative of the business sector, with his company participating in discussions surrounding relevant policy documents during their formulation. “The overarching theme of the ‘Opinions’ emphasizes data ‘openness’ and ‘utilization.’ Logically, it can be understood as encouraging both supply and demand stakeholders to collaboratively ensure that data benefits industrial growth, all while ensuring data safety,” he remarked.
It’s important to highlight that the “Opinions” not only incorporate “public data authoritative operations” as a new form of public data resource development and utilization but also dedicate a specific section to “strengthening resource management and normalizing public data authoritative operations,” emphasizing the establishment of a price formation mechanism to safeguard public interest and addressing the critical issue of determining the actual value of public data resources.
In fact, pricing data has consistently been a challenging and focal issue in the market-oriented allocation of data elements. Chen Duan, Director of the Digital Economy Integration Innovation Development Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, stated that current strategies for pricing public data rely on expert evaluations, pricing set by data collection or management entities, and market fair value assessments. However, a unified public data valuation assessment standard has yet to emerge. “The core issue lies in the competition for pricing authority among various entities, which is fundamentally at odds with differing pricing models.”
In light of this, the “Opinions” propose to leverage price policy as a lever for adjustment, expediting the establishment of a pricing mechanism aligned with the characteristics of public data elements. They also delineate two usage modes: “uncompensated use” and “compensated use.” The “uncompensated use” refers to data products and technical services for public management and charity work, which would be conditional, while “compensated use” would pertain to the operational and technical product development necessary for industrial growth, emphasizing regulated pricing to avoid excessively high costs.
“These two revenue models safeguard the public characteristics of the data while maximizing market vitality for public data development and operation,” Meng pointed out. Chen Ronghui echoed this sentiment, stating that the establishment of a robust price formation mechanism fundamentally aims to maintain public interest while correctly handling the relationship between public welfare and market-oriented development to maximize economic and social benefits. In interviews, it was revealed that the National Data Bureau is collaborating with the National Development and Reform Commission to draft related pricing policy documents, which are expected to be released soon.
Ensuring Safe and Compliant Data Use
One of the public’s primary concerns regarding the development and utilization of public data resources is ensuring that data is used safely and in compliance with regulations.
Recently, the National Audit Office released the results of audits on the budget execution of central departments in 2023, mentioning that four departments and their seven operating units had set data content, service formats, and pricing standards without approval, charging 248 million yuan using data from thirteen systems. This incident exemplifies the improper use of public data. Industry experts have pointed out that while government and public data open access can unleash economic value, it must occur within a framework of data safety requirements. Valuable information contained within governmental and public data often requires high-level protection, such as restrictions on external circulation and stricter authorization procedures for obtaining or using such data.
Additionally, Chen Duan highlights that the risk of public data leakage during the development and utilization process remains a significant concern. “Data’s replicable and portable nature can heighten risks, particularly given the high-value density of public data and the sensitive personal information it often contains. A breach would severely affect individual privacy, erode public trust in data openness, and incur economic losses for relevant parties. Risks associated with sensitive information in fields like national defense and military security require even more robust data safety mechanisms.”
“In the ‘Data Twenty,’ the principles of ‘original data should not leave the domain’ and ‘data can be available but not seen’ were introduced to prevent data leaks,” Meng analyzed. The “Opinions” continue this approach, providing specific regulations for public data security, reaffirming that “legally protected public data will not be made available.” There is a strict control over original public data that has not been disclosed according to legal regulations from directly entering the market.
On a regulatory level, the “Opinions” advocate for a structured work system encompassing classification and tiered risk assessment, monitoring and early warning systems, as well as emergency response protocols, emphasizing the need for safety risk evaluations in public data use and the normative review of application processes. On the technical front, there is encouragement for the development of diverse data products such as models, verification, and evaluation indices. Furthermore, the “Opinions” stress the need to enhance the recognition and management of risks associated with data integration.
“The deeper the engagement in data resource development and utilization, the greater the focus on data security and personal information protection should be,” Zhang Wang stated. For public data containing personal information, strict compliance with the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China will be observed, with data subject to desensitization and anonymization protocols. Relevant departments will also support technological innovations and applications focused on data encryption, secure circulation, and governance to better address safety concerns.
When discussing data safety compliance issues in public data development and utilization, Fang Yi believes it’s crucial to evaluate specific scenarios. Taking a traffic example, he stated that if data from a particular vehicle were leaked, it could infringe on privacy. However, analyzing aggregate data reflecting overall traffic conditions would not infringe on privacy and could enhance traffic management efforts.
“Thus, it is vital to frame discussions around data safety and compliance within specific contexts,” Fang emphasized. This necessitates mechanisms ensuring scenario-specific evaluation and implementing controls that facilitate “scene-locked” usage, thereby keeping data usable yet not visible—allowing for the smooth flow of data value without unnecessary circulation.
