National Data Administration Holds Its First Press Conference to Advance All-Round, Whole-Process Urban Digital Transformation with a Focus on Smart City Construction
On May 20th, the National Data Administration held its first press conference, which focused on smart city construction and aimed to advance urban digital transformation in all fields, aspects, and processes.
On the same day, four authorities including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Data Administration released the Guiding Opinions on Deepening Smart City Development and Promoting Comprehensive Urban Digital Transformation. The document requires that by 2027, significant progress should be made in the comprehensive digital transformation of cities across the country; a number of livable, resilient, and smart cities with horizontal connectivity, vertical integration, and distinctive features should be developed; and strong support should be provided for the construction of Digital China.
By 2030, Comprehensive Breakthroughs in National Urban Comprehensive Digital Transformation Will Be Achieved, and the People’s Sense of Gain, Happiness, and Security Will Be Fully Enhanced
By 2030, comprehensive breakthroughs will be made in the comprehensive digital transformation of cities across the country. The people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security will be fully enhanced, and a number of Chinese modernized cities with global competitiveness in the era of digital civilization will emerge.
Regarding the future development of smart cities, Chen Ronghui, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the National Data Administration, stated that the main considerations for advancing the comprehensive digital transformation of cities and supporting the construction of Digital China include implementing the core tasks of Digital China construction, fostering the internal driving force for Digital China construction, and demonstrating the development achievements of Digital China construction.
Chen Ronghui pointed out that in recent years, with the coordinated promotion of various departments and the innovative practices of local governments, China has achieved remarkable results in smart city construction. China’s smart cities have evolved from building various independent “point-like” information systems, to various departments providing “vertical-sector” digital applications and services based on their management functions, and then to gradually exploring and advancing “cross-sector, cross-business, cross-system” integrated applications. A series of landmark achievements have been formed in this process.
While smart city construction is developing rapidly and achieving phased breakthroughs, it also faces new challenges. For example, there are insufficient integrated urban planning and construction, inadequate collaboration between industries and cities, underdeveloped potential of data elements, and an incomplete long-term mechanism for construction and operation. These issues urgently need to be addressed.
At the same time, with the rapid development of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, the value of data elements has become increasingly prominent. Data elements are deeply integrated into various fields of urban economy and society, driving China’s smart city construction into a new stage of comprehensive digital transformation featuring “system restructuring and quality-efficiency improvement”.
He noted that the depth and breadth of smart city construction continue to expand, and its model is undergoing profound adjustments. Specifically:
- The driving force is shifting from being technology-driven to a coordinated drive involving data resource connectivity, digital technology empowerment, and institutional mechanism innovation;
- The development model is transforming from fragmented, single-point breakthroughs to integrated advancement and collaborative development;
- The governance and service model is changing from passive response to proactive identification;
- The service model is evolving from human-to-human interaction to human-machine collaboration;
- The scope of development is expanding from digital upgrading within cities to coordinated urban-rural and regional development.
“In response to the new situation and new requirements for smart city development in the new era, we have formulated the Guiding Opinions together with relevant departments. We will take data integration, development, and utilization as the red thread throughout the comprehensive digital transformation of cities, to better serve cities in pursuing high-quality development, efficient governance, and a high-quality life,” Chen Ronghui said.
Innovate Operation and Maintenance Models, and Explore the Establishment of Budget and Assessment Mechanisms
When answering a question from a reporter of The Beijing News Shell Finance, Lu Dongsen, Deputy Director of the Digital Economy Department of the National Data Administration, stated that the long-standing problem of “emphasizing construction over operation” in smart cities has led to phenomena such as “becoming outdated as soon as completed” and “being eliminated as soon as launched”. To effectively solve these problems, institutional-level considerations are essential. By exploring the establishment of an operation budget and evaluation mechanism oriented to application effects such as problem-solving effectiveness and user satisfaction, we can plan operation priorities in advance and achieve people-satisfying operation results through integrated planning and professional construction.
Lu Dongsen pointed out that the National Data Administration has conducted a detailed analysis of the construction and operation of smart cities in China in recent years. In response to shortcomings such as the lack of sustainability in operation and maintenance, the Guiding Opinions proposes three directions for innovating operation and maintenance models:
- Operation System: Accelerate the establishment of a three-dimensional operation system covering data operation, facility operation, and service operation. Coordinate and advance the authorized operation of urban public data to ensure that public data “can be supplied, circulated smoothly, and used effectively”, and regard data as a key element in smart city operation.
- Operation Mechanism: Build an ecological circle with multi-stakeholder participation. Explore new government-enterprise partnership mechanisms to promote the establishment of an urban digital operation ecosystem involving governments, enterprises, research think tanks, and financial institutions.
- Maintenance Method: Promote the formation of a unified and standardized maintenance system. Accelerate the development of an integrated and standardized smart city maintenance system in terms of institutional requirements, management processes, and technical standards, and gradually transform from “siloed and fragmented maintenance” to “integrated maintenance”.
Smart City Development Advances “Comprehensive Digital Transformation”
The Guiding Opinions puts forward requirements for “comprehensive digital transformation” in smart city development. In this regard, Wu Xiaoning, Director of the Digital Economy Department of the National Data Administration, stated that “comprehensive digital transformation” fully leverages the role of data as a basic resource and innovation engine. It comprehensively enhances the integrity, systematicness, and coordination of urban digital transformation, and takes data integration, development, and utilization as the red thread throughout the entire process of urban planning, construction, management, service, and operation. This transformation aims to comprehensively reshape the technical architecture of smart cities, systematically reform urban management processes, and promote in-depth integration of industries and cities in an integrated manner, thereby driving the high-quality development of modern cities and advancing the full implementation of Digital China construction in cities.
Advancing the comprehensive digital transformation of cities requires focusing on three “comprehensive” aspects:
- Promote urban digital transformation in all fields;
- Strengthen support for urban digital transformation in all aspects;
- Optimize the ecosystem for urban digital transformation in all processes.
To leverage the role of data as a basic resource and innovation engine, and take data integration, development, and utilization as the red thread throughout the comprehensive digital transformation of cities, four key aspects need to be focused on:
Improve infrastructure for data circulation and utilization: Explore the development of infrastructure for data circulation and utilization supported by technologies such as trusted data spaces, blockchains, and high-speed data networks. Provide security guarantees for data collection, storage, computing, management, and utilization, and remove bottlenecks in data sharing, circulation, and utilization.
Advance the innovative practice of basic data systems: Leverage the advantages of cities in abundant data and concentrated scenarios to accelerate the implementation of systems related to data property rights, circulation and transactions, income distribution, and security governance. Use institutional innovation to support and guarantee technological innovation and industrial innovation, and promote the efficient circulation and utilization of data elements.
Build a data element empowerment system: Promote the establishment and improvement of a dynamic, updated, classified, and graded urban data resource management system. Advance the “on-demand sharing and full sharing” of business data in key urban scenarios, strengthen data quality evaluation, coordinate and advance the authorized operation of public data, and improve the level of data resource development and utilization.
Enrich data-driven application scenarios: Driven by the construction of data application scenarios, promote the collaborative and integrated application of data. Develop a number of business scenarios that are “effective in practice, favored by grassroots cadres, and user-friendly for the public”, and fully empower the development of urban digital economy, industry-city integration, refined governance, inclusive services, green livability, and security and resilience.
