Recently, to implement the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Action Outline for Promoting Big Data Development, accelerate the implementation of the national big data strategy, and promote the healthy and rapid development of the big data industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formulated the Development Plan for the Big Data Industry (2016–2020).

Data is a fundamental strategic national resource and the “diamond mine” of the 21st century. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to the role of big data in economic and social development. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed the “implementation of the national big data strategy,” and the State Council issued the Outline for Promoting the Development of Big Data to comprehensively advance big data development and accelerate the building of a leading data power.

The 13th Five-Year Plan period was the decisive stage for China to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and a critical period for the transition from old to new growth drivers. Globally, the new generation of information technology industries was undergoing accelerated transformation; big data technologies and applications were entering a phase of innovative breakthroughs; and domestic market demand was experiencing explosive growth. As a result, China’s big data industry faced significant opportunities for development. Seizing these opportunities and promoting the development of the big data industry were of great significance for enhancing government governance capabilities, optimizing public services for people’s livelihoods, and facilitating economic transformation and innovation-driven development. To promote the sustained and healthy development of China’s big data industry, thoroughly implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, execute the National Big Data Strategy, carry out the State Council’s Action Outline for Promoting Big Data Development, and in accordance with the overall arrangements set forth in the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, this Plan was formulated.

The big data industry refers to economic activities primarily centered on data production, collection, storage, processing, analysis, and services, including the development of data resources, the development, sales, and leasing of big data hardware and software products, and related information technology services.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China’s information industry expanded rapidly, information technology advanced swiftly, and the internet economy flourished. Substantial data resources were accumulated, significant breakthroughs were achieved in technological innovation, and application momentum remained strong, laying a solid foundation for the accelerated development of China’s big data industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

Informatization has accumulated abundant data resources. China’s level of informatization development continues to rise, with deepening capabilities in the collection, mining, and application of data resources. The level of e-government has been continuously improved, with 84,000 government websites nationwide serving the public. Smart city initiatives have been comprehensively rolled out, with nearly 300 cities participating in smart city pilot programs during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. The integrated development of informatization and industrialization is advancing steadily, entering a new stage of in-depth growth. Information consumption is flourishing, with the number of internet users exceeding 700 million and mobile phone subscribers surpassing 1.3 billion, both ranking first globally. The average monthly mobile internet data traffic per household reached 835 MB. Government departments, internet companies, and large corporate groups have accumulated substantial data resources. China has become one of the countries generating and accumulating the largest volume and most diverse types of data.

Significant breakthroughs have been achieved in big data technology innovation. In terms of hardware and software, leading domestic enterprises have successively launched independently developed big data infrastructure platforms, while a number of information service companies have developed data analysis tools tailored to specific domains, offering innovative data services. Regarding platform construction, leading internet companies have deployed single-server clusters comprising tens of thousands of units, demonstrating the technical capability to build and operate ultra-large-scale big data platforms. In the realm of intelligent analytics, some enterprises are actively deploying cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies such as deep learning, securing technological high grounds in speech recognition, image understanding, and text mining. Furthermore, China’s contributions to the international open-source big data software community continue to grow.

Big data applications are gaining strong momentum. Big data has been widely adopted in internet services, significantly enhancing the personalization and intelligence of online social networking, e-commerce, advertising, search, and other services, while fostering new data-driven business models such as the sharing economy. Big data is accelerating its penetration into traditional industries, driving transformations in production methods and management models, and propelling the manufacturing sector toward networked, digital, and intelligent development. Industries such as telecommunications, finance, and transportation are leveraging their extensive accumulated data resources to actively explore applications in customer segmentation, risk prevention and control, and credit evaluation, thereby accelerating service optimization, business innovation, and industrial upgrading.

The big data industrial system has taken shape. In 2015, China’s information industry revenue reached RMB 17.1 trillion, doubling the figure recorded in 2010 at the outset of the 12th Five-Year Plan period. Of this, the software and information technology services sector generated RMB 4.3 trillion in software business revenue, representing a year-on-year increase of 15.7%. Large-scale data centers have progressed toward greener and more intensive development, with 295 enterprises operating internet data center (IDC) businesses across regions. Cloud computing services have gradually matured; the data processing scale of major cloud computing platforms now ranks among the world’s leading levels, providing robust computational and storage capabilities for big data and facilitating data aggregation. New models and new forms of business have emerged in the areas of big data resource development, big data technologies, and big data applications. An industrial pattern characterized by leadership from key enterprises and interaction between upstream and downstream players has initially taken shape. Big data-based innovation and entrepreneurship are becoming increasingly vibrant, making big data technologies, industries, and services a focal point for social capital investment.

The support capacity of the big data industry is continuously strengthening. A standardized working mechanism for big data has been established, and a preliminary big data standard system has taken shape. National standards for big data technologies, trading, open sharing, and industrial big data have been developed, with pilot demonstrations conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guiyang for some of these standards. A number of industry support platforms, including big data technology R&D laboratories, engineering centers, enterprise technology centers, industrial innovation platforms, industrial alliances, and investment funds, have been successively established. The big data security assurance system as well as relevant laws and regulations are being continuously improved.

Big data has become one of the strategic high grounds shaping national competitiveness, as international competition grows increasingly fierce. A country’s ability to harness and utilize big data has become a key indicator of its national competitiveness. Countries around the world are incorporating big data into their national development strategies, with industrial development serving as the core focus of big data initiatives. The United States places significant emphasis on big data research, development, and application. In March 2012, it launched the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative,” treating big data as an important strategic resource for management and application. In May 2016, it further released the “Federal Big Data Research and Development Strategic Plan,” continuously strengthening its layout in big data R&D and application. In 2014, the European Union introduced its “Data-Driven Economy” strategy, encouraging European countries to seize the opportunities presented by big data. Additionally, countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia have implemented similar policies to promote big data application and drive industrial growth.

Big Data Accelerates the Transformation of the Information Industry Landscape, Presenting Rare Opportunities for Innovative Development. In today’s world, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is emerging, bringing about profound changes to the information industry landscape. Driven by big data, information technology is undergoing a transition from legacy to new paradigms, with rapid advancements in new technologies and models such as distributed system architectures and multi-source heterogeneous data management. The industry is at a critical juncture of innovation and transformation, presenting China with significant opportunities to accelerate its development.

China’s economic and social development has placed higher demands on informatization, creating strong endogenous momentum for the development of big data. Promoting big data applications, accelerating the digitalization and intelligent transformation of traditional industries, and expanding and strengthening the digital economy can provide new impetus for China’s economic transformation, create new opportunities for reshaping national competitive advantages, and open up new pathways for enhancing government governance capabilities, thereby serving as a crucial instrument in supporting national strategy. Currently, China is advancing supply-side structural reform and building a service-oriented government, while accelerating the implementation of the “Internet Plus” Action Plan and the Made in China 2025 strategy. The establishment of an equitable, inclusive, convenient, and efficient public service system has created vast market space for the big data industry, constituting a powerful endogenous driver for its development in China.

China’s big data industry has established a solid foundation and faces rare development opportunities, yet it still encounters certain difficulties and challenges. First, the level of open sharing of data resources is low. Data quality is suboptimal, circulation of data resources is impeded, management capabilities are weak, and the value of data is difficult to effectively exploit and utilize. Second, technological innovation and support capabilities are insufficient. China still lags significantly behind foreign counterparts in areas such as novel computing platforms, distributed computing architectures, and big data processing, analysis, and visualization, while exerting limited influence on open-source technologies and related ecosystems. Third, the level of big data application remains low. Although China possesses strong market advantages for big data adoption, issues persist, including limited scope of application fields, shallow depth of implementation, and inadequate understanding. Fourth, the support system for the big data industry is imperfect. Laws and regulations concerning data ownership and privacy rights, as well as standards and norms for information security and open sharing, are unsound. A data openness, management, and information security assurance system that balances security with development has not yet been established. Fifth, talent development requires urgent strengthening. There is a shortage of professionals in basic research, product development, and business applications related to big data, making it difficult to meet developmental needs.

The 13th Five-Year Plan period was the decisive stage for China to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the initial phase for implementing the national big data strategy, and a critical window for the rise of the big data industry. It is imperative to seize this opportunity to accelerate development and achieve the transformation from a major data country to a strong data power.

(I) Guiding Principles

Fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Plenary Sessions of its 18th Central Committee; adhere to the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing; center on implementing the national big data strategy; focus on strengthening the innovative development capacity of the big data industry, promoting data openness and sharing, enhancing research and development of technological products, and deepening application innovation; support these efforts by improving the development environment and bolstering security assurance capabilities; build an independent industrial ecosystem where data, technology, applications, and security develop in a coordinated manner; comprehensively enhance China’s capabilities in resource control, technological support, and value extraction for big data; accelerate the construction of a leading nation in data, thereby providing strong support for building China into a manufacturing powerhouse and a cyber power.

(II) Development Principles

Innovation-Driven. Targeting the frontiers of big data technology development, we will strengthen innovation capabilities and elevate the level of innovation. With enterprises as the main actors, we will concentrate efforts on overcoming key big data technologies, accelerate product research and development, and foster the growth of emerging big data service models. We will enhance collaborative innovation in big data technologies, applications, and business models, cultivating a market-oriented and networked innovation ecosystem.

Application-Led Development. Leverage the advantages of China’s vast market size and robust demand for applications, guided by national strategies, public needs, and market demands, to accelerate the research and development of big data technology products and their adoption across various industries and sectors. Promote cross-industry, cross-sector, and cross-regional big data applications, fostering a virtuous cycle of industrial development.

Openness and Sharing. Aggregate global big data resources, including technology, talent, and capital; adhere to the combination of independent innovation and open cooperation; and pursue an open path for big data industry development. Establish a philosophy of open data sharing, improve relevant systems, and promote the opening and sharing of data resources as well as information circulation.

Coordinated Planning and Overall Advancement. Leverage the principal role of enterprises in big data industry innovation, strengthen government policy support and guidance, foster a favorable regulatory and policy environment, and establish a mechanism for coordinated advancement among government, industry, academia, research, and application. Enhance policy alignment on big data development across central authorities, governmental departments, and local governments, optimize industrial layout, and generate synergistic forces for coordinated development.

Safety Standards. Security is the prerequisite for development, and development is the guarantee of security. We must attach equal importance to development and security, enhance capabilities in information security technology, establish and improve a comprehensive security protection system, and safeguard information security and personal privacy. We should strengthen industry self-discipline, improve industry regulation, and promote the orderly flow and standardized utilization of data resources.

(III) Development Goals

By 2020, a big data industrial system characterized by advanced technology, robust applications, and strong support mechanisms had been fundamentally established. The revenue from big data-related products and services exceeded RMB 1 trillion, with an average annual compound growth rate of approximately 30%. This progress accelerated the development of a data powerhouse, providing substantial industrial support for achieving the goals of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse and a cyber powerhouse.

— Advanced and Controllable Technological Products. In the realm of big data infrastructure hardware and software, we have developed secure and controllable technological products. We have reached an internationally advanced level in technologies for big data acquisition, storage management, and processing platforms. We maintain a leading position in algorithms and tools for data mining, analysis, and application. Consequently, we have established a portfolio of independently innovated, technologically advanced products, solutions, and services that meet the demands of major applications.

——Application capabilities significantly enhanced. The application of industrial big data fully supports intelligent manufacturing and industrial transformation and upgrading, with big data being widely and deeply applied in areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship, government management, and public services. Capabilities for technological integration, business integration, and data integration have been significantly improved, achieving collaborative management and services across levels, regions, systems, departments, and businesses, thereby forming a new model of data-driven innovative development.

——A thriving ecosystem. Several big data backbone enterprises with outstanding innovation capabilities have emerged, along with a cohort of specialized, innovative small and medium-sized data service enterprises. Ten internationally leading core big data enterprises and 500 big data application and service enterprises have been cultivated. A relatively complete big data industrial chain has been established, marking the initial formation of a big data industrial system. Ten to fifteen comprehensive big data pilot zones have been built, a number of big data industry clusters have been created, and several demonstration bases for new-type industrialization in the big data sector have been established.

—Continuously enhanced support capabilities. Establish and improve a big data standard system covering technology, products, and management. Form a number of regional and industry-specific big data industry and application alliances and industry organizations. Cultivate a group of specialized service institutions providing big data consulting and research, testing and evaluation, technology and intellectual property services, and investment and financing. Build one to two well-regulated open-source communities with certain international influence.

——Robust data security safeguards. Data security technologies have reached an internationally advanced level. The national data security protection system has been basically established. Capabilities and frameworks for data security assurance basically meet the needs of national strategy and market applications. Laws and regulations governing data security and personal privacy protection are relatively well-developed.

(1) Strengthen the research and development of big data technology products

Guided by application-oriented principles, we aim to achieve breakthroughs in key big data technologies, promote the R&D and industrialization of products and solutions, innovate technical service models, and establish a technologically advanced and ecologically comprehensive product system.

Accelerate the research and development of key big data technologies. Make forward-looking arrangements in areas such as the theoretical system of data science, big data computing systems and analytics, and big data application models, while strengthening fundamental big data research. Leverage the primary role of enterprises in innovation, integrate resources from industry, academia, research, and application sectors for collaborative breakthroughs, and develop key technologies for big data acquisition, transmission, storage, management, processing, analysis, application, visualization, and security. Achieve breakthroughs in foundational big data technologies such as large-scale heterogeneous data fusion, cluster resource scheduling, and distributed file systems; general-purpose computing framework technologies for multi-tasking; and computational engine technologies such as stream computing and graph computing. Support technological innovations in frontier fields including deep learning, brain-inspired computing, cognitive computing, blockchain, and virtual reality to enhance capabilities in data analysis, processing, and knowledge discovery. In conjunction with industry applications, develop intelligent data application technologies for big data analysis, understanding, prediction, decision support, and knowledge services. Achieve breakthroughs in new chips and integrated architectures for big data-oriented computing, storage, sensing, and communications, as well as in technologies such as in-memory computing, hundred-million-level concurrency, exabyte (EB)-scale storage, and green computing, thereby promoting the coordinated development of software and hardware.

Cultivate a secure and controllable big data product ecosystem. Guided by application needs, prioritize both independent R&D and the introduction and absorption of external technologies to accelerate the formation of a secure and controllable big data product ecosystem. Achieve breakthroughs in core information technology equipment and information security products for big data application infrastructure, as well as foundational products such as new-generation relational databases for transaction processing, columnar databases, NoSQL databases, large-scale graph databases, and next-generation distributed computing platforms. Accelerate the development of software products including next-generation business intelligence, data mining, data visualization, and semantic search. Aligning with data lifecycle management requirements, cultivate platform products for big data acquisition and integration, big data analysis and mining, big data interactive sensing, and data resource management based on semantic understanding. Addressing the application needs of key industries, develop technical products with industry-specific features for big data retrieval, analysis, and presentation, thereby establishing mature big data solutions and services for vertical domains.

Innovate Big Data Technical Service Models. Accelerate innovation in big data service models, foster new models and business formats such as Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), enhance big data service capabilities, and lower the barriers and costs of big data applications. Develop technical services for data collection, cleaning, analysis, trading, and security protection, addressing needs across all stages of the data lifecycle. Promote the integration of big data with cloud computing service models, facilitate the development of public cloud computing services for massive data, large-scale distributed computing, and intelligent data analysis, and strengthen the capabilities of third-party big data technical service providers. Drive the deep integration of big data technical services with various industries, and cultivate big data service models tailored to vertical sectors.

(II) Deepening the Innovative Application of Industrial Big Data

Strengthen the planning and layout of industrial big data infrastructure, promote the application of big data throughout the entire product lifecycle and across the whole industry chain, advance the integrated development of industrial big data with automatic control and sensing hardware, core industrial software, the Industrial Internet, industrial cloud, and intelligent service platforms, foster a new model of data-driven industrial development, support the Made in China 2025 strategy, and explore the establishment of industrial big data centers.

Accelerate the development of industrial big data infrastructure. Expedite the construction of a low-latency, highly reliable, and widely covered Industrial Internet oriented toward intelligent manufacturing units, smart factories, and IoT applications, thereby enhancing the service capabilities of industrial network infrastructure. Accelerate the deployment and application of data acquisition devices such as industrial sensors, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and optical communication components; promote the establishment of an industrial IoT standard system; drive the upgrading and transformation of industrial control systems; aggregate multi-source data from sensing, control, management, and operations; and enhance the networking, digitalization, and intelligence levels of products, equipment, and enterprises.

Promote the full-process application of industrial big data. Support the construction of industrial big data platforms, drive the application of big data across all stages in key industrial sectors, enhance the deep integration of informatization and industrialization, and facilitate industrial transformation and upgrading. Strengthen big data capabilities in research and development (R&D) and design, leverage big data to accurately perceive user needs, promote data- and knowledge-driven innovative design, and improve R&D efficiency. Accelerate the application of big data in manufacturing and production, optimize assembly line operations through big data monitoring, strengthen fault prediction and health management, improve product quality, and reduce energy consumption. Enhance the application of big data in business management, improve the integration of key operational processes such as human resources, finance, manufacturing, and procurement, boost management efficiency and decision-making capabilities, and achieve intelligent business operations. Promote the in-depth application of big data in customer service, fostering innovative uses of big data in pre-sales, during-sales, and after-sales services. Facilitate the integration of data resources, connect data chains across all stages, and establish a closed-loop data ecosystem covering the entire process.

Cultivate New Data-Driven Models in Manufacturing. Deepen the integrated development of manufacturing and the internet, adhere to innovation-driven strategies, and accelerate the deep integration and application of emerging technologies—such as industrial big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)—within the manufacturing sector. Establish big data “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” platforms for manufacturing enterprises to foster new technologies, new business formats, and new models. Leverage big data to facilitate the participation of specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in industrial chains, align with initiatives such as Made in China 2025 and military-civil fusion projects, and promote collaborative design and collaborative manufacturing. Vigorously develop big data-based personalized customization, advance customer-to-manufacturer (C2M) and other manufacturing models, and enhance the intelligence and flexibility of manufacturing processes. Utilize big data to accelerate the development of Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS) models, facilitating the transition from production-oriented manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing.

(3) Promoting the Development of Big Data Applications in the Industry

Strengthen the in-depth application of big data in key industries, promote cross-industry integration and innovation of big data, enhance the capability to utilize big data in government governance and public services, and drive the integrated development of big data with various industry sectors.

Promote the Application of Big Data in Key Industries. Promote the application of big data in sectors such as telecommunications, energy, finance, commerce and trade, agriculture, food, cultural and creative industries, and public safety. Advance the collection, integration, sharing, and utilization of industry data resources, fully unleash the transformative role of big data in industrial development, and accelerate the transformation of traditional industries’ operational and management practices, innovation in service and business models, and the restructuring of industrial value chain systems.

Promote cross-industry integration and innovation in big data. Break down institutional and mechanistic barriers, eliminate data silos, innovate cooperation models, and cultivate new business formats characterized by interdisciplinary integration of big data applications. Support sectors with strong informatization foundations—such as telecommunications, internet, industry, finance, healthcare, and transportation—to take the lead in implementing cross-domain and cross-industry big data applications, thereby fostering new models of big data utilization. Encourage big data-related enterprises to strengthen technological and resource alignment with traditional industries, jointly explore diversified cooperative operational models, and advance the integrated application of big data.

Strengthen the application of big data in social governance and public services. Guided by people’s livelihood needs, leveraging e-government and smart city initiatives, and facilitated by data centralization and sharing, we will promote the construction of a nationally integrated national big data center. This will drive the integration of technologies, business operations, and data, enabling collaborative management and services across levels, regions, systems, departments, and business domains. We will foster the application of big data in livelihood-related fields such as government administration, transportation, education, health, social security, and employment, explore data governance models with public participation, enhance social governance and urban management capabilities, and provide intelligent, precise, efficient, and convenient public services to the populace. Furthermore, we will promote the application of big data in the supervision and service of market entities, establish big data-based platforms for operational analysis of key industries, strengthen monitoring of the economic performance of key industries and backbone enterprises, and improve the timeliness, precision, and foresight of industry operation supervision and services. By promoting the integration of government and enterprise data, we will provide robust support for corporate innovation and development as well as social governance.

(4) Accelerate the Cultivation of Big Data Industry Entities

Guide the development layout of big data, promote innovation and entrepreneurship based on big data, cultivate a group of leading big data enterprises and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, form a multi-level and tiered innovation entity and reasonable industrial layout, and prosper the big data ecosystem.

Leveraging Big Data to Boost Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Encourage leading big data enterprises with abundant resources and advanced technologies to build big data platforms, opening up basic resources such as platform data, computing power, and development environments to reduce the costs of innovation and entrepreneurship. Encourage large enterprises to rely on internet-based “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” platforms to provide big data-driven innovation and entrepreneurship services. Organize activities such as algorithm competitions, application innovation contests, crowdsourcing, and crowdfunding to stimulate the vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship. Support in-depth cooperation between big data enterprises and scientific research institutions to bridge the gap between technological innovation and industrialization, forming a data-driven model for scientific and technological innovation.

Build a Pattern of Collaborative Development Among Enterprises. Support leading enterprises in integrating and leveraging domestic and international resources such as technology, talent, and patents; accelerate the research and development of big data technologies and product innovation; enhance the international market share and brand influence of their products and services; and cultivate a cohort of comprehensive and specialized leading enterprises with international competitiveness. Support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in deepening their presence in niche markets, accelerating innovation in service and business models, and enhancing their innovation capabilities. Encourage companies across all segments of the ecosystem to strengthen cooperation, build an industrial ecosystem characterized by multi-party collaboration and mutual benefit, and foster a favorable landscape for the coordinated development of large, medium, and small enterprises.

Optimize the regional layout of the big data industry. Guide localities to leverage their own conditions, highlight regional characteristics and advantages, clarify key development directions, deepen big data applications, ensure rational positioning and scientific planning, and form a scientifically ordered industrial division of labor and regional layout. Establish several National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zones across China to conduct systematic explorations and trials in areas such as institutional innovation for big data, open sharing of public data, innovative big data applications, agglomeration of big data industries, circulation of data factors, integration of data centers, and international exchange and cooperation in big data, thereby accumulating experience for the development and application of big data nationwide. Build a number of big data industry clusters in regions with distinct competitive advantages in the big data sector, and create demonstration bases for new-type industrialization in big data. Leverage the effects of industrial agglomeration and synergy to drive broader progress through pilot initiatives, leading the development of big data across China. Coordinate the cross-regional layout of big data, utilize big data to promote information sharing, information consumption, resource matching, and complementary advantages, and foster coordinated regional economic and social development.

(5) Promote the Construction of a Big Data Standard System

Strengthen the top-level design of big data standardization, gradually improve the standard system, and leverage the critical supporting role of standardization in industrial development.

Accelerate the development and promotion of key big data standards. In alignment with the needs of big data industry development, establish and continuously improve a comprehensive big data standard system covering fundamentals, data, technology, platforms/tools, management, security, and applications. Expedite the formulation of national standards for general foundational aspects and industry standards for key application areas. Select priority industries, sectors, and regions to conduct standard testing, validation, and pilot demonstrations, while strengthening publicity, implementation, and enforcement. Establish a conformity assessment system for standards to reinforce their supportive role in market cultivation, enhancement of service capabilities, and industry governance. Strengthen coordination and compatibility among various types of standards, including national, industry, and association standards.

Actively participate in the international standardization of big data. Strengthen exchanges and cooperation between China’s big data standardization organizations and relevant international bodies. Mobilize resources from industry, academia, research, and application sectors in China to accelerate the advancement of international standard proposals. Support relevant entities in participating in international standardization activities and assuming related positions, host international standardization events, and expand global influence.

(6) Improve the Big Data Industry Support System

Coordinate the layout of big data infrastructure, build an innovative service platform for the development of the big data industry, establish a system for big data statistics and development assessment, and create a favorable environment for industrial development.

Rationally plan the development of big data infrastructure. Guide local governments and relevant enterprises to coordinate the layout of data center construction, make full use of existing government and social data center resources, integrate and upgrade small-scale, inefficient, and high-energy-consuming dispersed data centers, and avoid waste of resources and space. Encourage the widespread adoption of low-carbon and environmentally friendly practices—such as renewable energy utilization and waste equipment recycling—in big data infrastructure development, steering the big data infrastructure system toward green intensification, rational layout, moderate scale, and high-speed interconnectivity. Accelerate the upgrading of network infrastructure, optimize network architecture, and enhance the quality of interconnectivity.

Build public service platforms for the development of the big data industry. Fully leverage and integrate existing innovation resources to establish a number of big data testing, certification, and public service platforms. Support the creation of public technological innovation platforms such as big data-related open-source communities, encourage developers, enterprises, and research institutions to actively participate in big data open-source projects, enhance influence within open-source communities, and boost innovation capabilities.

Establish a Big Data Development Evaluation System. Research and establish an evaluation system for the big data industry development to monitor, analyze, and assess the status of big data resource construction, the degree of openness and sharing, industrial development capabilities, and application levels in China and across various regions. Compile and release a Big Data Industry Development Index to guide and evaluate the development of big data nationwide.

(7) Enhancing Big Data Security Assurance Capabilities

In response to the new landscape of cybersecurity, we will strengthen the research and development of big data security technologies and products, leverage big data to improve security management mechanisms, and build a robust big data security assurance system.

Strengthen the research and development of big data security technology products. Focus on researching unified account, authentication, authorization, and audit systems in big data environments, as well as big data encryption and classification management systems. Break through key technologies such as differential privacy, secure multi-party computation, and data flow monitoring and traceability. Promote big data protection technologies including leakage prevention, theft prevention, and anonymization, and develop big data security protection products and solutions. Strengthen the research, development, and industrialization of big data security support technologies, such as cloud platform virtual machine security, virtualized network security, cloud security auditing, and unified cloud platform security management. Enhance vulnerability discovery and hardening for basic software systems underlying cloud computing and big data.

Enhance the support capability of big data for cybersecurity. Comprehensively utilize multi-source data, strengthen big data mining and analysis, and improve capabilities in perceiving, warning against, and responding to cybersecurity risks. Strengthen the research and development of new information security products based on big data, promote the application of big data technologies in the security protection of critical information infrastructure, and safeguard the security of important information systems in sectors such as finance, energy, electric power, telecommunications, and transportation. Establish a big data platform for cybersecurity situational awareness and a national monitoring and early warning platform for industrial control system security, facilitate the collection and sharing of cybersecurity threat data, and build a unified, efficient, and collaboratively coordinated system for cybersecurity risk reporting, intelligence sharing, and analytical response.

(1) Promoting Institutional and Mechanism Innovation

Under the framework of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference on Promoting Big Data Development, establish and improve a coordinated mechanism for big data development involving both central and local governments, fostering a virtuous cycle where applications drive industry growth and industry supports application deployment, thereby collaboratively advancing the development of the big data industry and its applications. Strengthen resource sharing and communication collaboration, coordinate the formulation of policy measures and action plans, and address major issues arising in the course of big data industry development. Establish a ministerial-provincial coordination mechanism for big data development to enhance alignment between local and central policies, measures, and plans related to the big data industry, and promote inter-regional policy coordination through joint initiatives such as collaborative industrial planning. Organize and conduct assessments and inspections of big data development to ensure the orderly progress of key tasks. Fully leverage the role of local government bodies or coordination mechanisms responsible for overall big data development planning, integrate big data industry development into local economic and social development plans, and strengthen organizational safeguards for the growth of the big data industry.

(II) Improve relevant policies, regulations, and institutional frameworks

Promote the formulation of institutional documents on the protection and opening of public information resources, as well as administrative measures for government information resources, gradually expand the scope of open data, and improve the quality of open data. Strengthen coordinated data management and industry self-discipline, enhance intellectual property protection for big data, and encourage enterprises to establish dedicated data protection roles. Study and formulate rules for data circulation and trading, advance risk assessment in the circulation process, explore the establishment of an information disclosure system, support third-party institutions in supervising and auditing compliant data applications, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of relevant stakeholders. Promote the improvement of legislation on personal information protection, establish a personal information breach reporting system, strengthen security safeguards and related management mechanisms against data leaks, tampering, and ensure data backup for network data and user information, and increase management and punitive measures against data abuse and violations of personal privacy. Strengthen the security protection of critical information infrastructure, promote the establishment of a legal framework and management mechanism for cross-border data flows, and enhance the management of cross-border transfers of important and sensitive data. Advance the legislative process related to big data, support localities in taking the lead with pilot initiatives, and study and formulate local regulations related to big data.

(3) Increase policy support

In alignment with strategic documents such as the Outline for Promoting the Development of Big Data, Made in China 2025, the “Internet Plus” Action Plan, and the Decision on Cultivating and Developing Strategic Emerging Industries, formulate financial and government procurement policies aimed at fostering the big data industry, and implement relevant tax policies. Fully leverage the supportive role of funding from national science and technology programs (including special projects and funds), encourage eligible localities to establish special funds for big data development, and support the advancement of foundational big data technologies, key products, services, and applications. Encourage industrial investment institutions and guarantee agencies to increase their support for big data enterprises, guide financial institutions to prioritize credit support for big data projects that feature advanced technology, strong driving effects, and broad benefits, facilitate big data enterprises in accessing capital markets for financing, and create a more favorable market environment for corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions. Support eligible big data enterprises in enjoying corresponding preferential policies.

(4) Building a Multi-tiered Talent Workforce

Establish talent development and evaluation mechanisms that adapt to the needs of big data development. Strengthen the cultivation of big data professionals by integrating resources from universities, enterprises, and society, promoting innovative talent training models, and establishing a sound, multi-level, and diversified big data talent development system. Encourage universities to explore mechanisms for cultivating both specialized professionals in the big data field and interdisciplinary, composite talents. Support universities and enterprises in jointly establishing internship and training mechanisms to enhance the practical vocational skills of big data professionals. Encourage enterprises to conduct on-the-job big data skills training for employees and actively foster innovative talents in big data technology and applications. Leverage social educational resources to carry out big data knowledge popularization and education/training programs, thereby improving overall societal awareness and application capabilities. Encourage industry organizations to explore the establishment of competency evaluation systems for big data professionals. Improve supporting measures to cultivate innovative leading talents in the big data sector and attract high-level overseas big data professionals to work and start businesses in China.

(V) Promoting International Development

In accordance with the overall requirements for building a cyber power, and in conjunction with major national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative, we will accelerate the expansion into international markets, export advanced technologies and services, and cultivate a cohort of big data enterprises and products with international competitiveness. We will fully leverage international cooperation and exchange mechanisms and platforms to strengthen collaboration in key areas including big data technology research, product development, data openness and sharing, standards and norms, and talent cultivation. Adhering to the principle of cyber sovereignty, we will actively participate in the development of international rule systems concerning data security and cross-border data flows, promote open cooperation, and foster a well-ordered environment.