Interpretation of China's Big Data Development Trends and Prospects in 2017 (Part 1)

Introduction: In August 2015, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting the Development of Big Data," which first explicitly proposed the construction of a data strong nation; in October 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to "implement the national big data strategy," elevating big data to a national strategy. Since then, various government departments, scientific research institutes, large internet companies, and traditional industrial enterprises have continuously released strategic white papers to plan for the future.

The Amazing Big Data

In today’s rapidly developing society, we are in the torrent of big data. With the development of the internet and the Internet of Things, interpersonal communication has become increasingly close, and life has become more convenient. Big data is a product of this high-tech era. For the average person, big data is "inaccessible" and not a tangible entity, yet it is truly applied in our lives, promoting technological development and social transformation.

*Big data refers to datasets that cannot be captured, managed, or processed within a certain time frame using conventional software tools. It requires new processing models to possess stronger decision-making power, insight, and process optimization capabilities, comprising vast, high-growth-rate, and diverse information assets. -- Baidu Encyclopedia

According to the national big data white paper, an analysis of the ten major development trends and prospects for big data in China is presented. (Take note, students.)

Interpretation of Ten Major Trends ● Part 1

(1) A Rich and Detailed Policy System to Promote the Implementation of Big Data

From the central government to local authorities, a richer set of supporting policies and implementation guidelines will accelerate the landing of big data. More local governments are actively promoting the development of big data and creating models for its application in government, business, and civilian use.

In recent years, the national government has issued a series of documents, clearly proposing the implementation of the national big data strategy, aiming to build a data strong nation, and introducing a range of policies to create a national strategic layout, promoting the development of the big data industry.

At the national level, documents clearly outline the directional goals and tasks for the development of big data, establishing the direction, pathway, key points, and support systems for China’s big data industry. This includes the introduction of a series of application policies across many fields such as transportation, agriculture, finance and securities, health care, education, industry and commerce, land resources, and ecological environment.

From the enterprise perspective, the state will unify standards and norms to avoid a series of issues such as complex industry exchanges, confusion over data ownership, and high development costs. Relevant supportive policies will directly reduce the development and usage costs for enterprises, promote internal structural reforms, optimize resource allocation, and improve productivity and resource utilization efficiency.

For individuals, big data is not just a technology but a comprehensive transformation in thinking patterns, behaviors, and governance concepts. The implementation of big data applications will change our daily lives.

(2) Innovative Pilot Systems at Locations Show Characteristics and Differentiation

A big data pilot innovation system is forming at the national "experimental zones," ministerial-level "industrial demonstration bases," and provincial and municipal "demonstration parks." This will drive the development of a series of major big data projects, laboratory construction, and the transformation and upgrading of the industry, creating a new pattern of collaborative innovation and regional characteristic development.

Big data in China is still in the initial exploration stage. Much like economic special zones, it is necessary to conduct pilot work in some key cities and to initially select key enterprises for construction. Currently, there are eight experimental zones nationwide, including two cross-regional comprehensive experimental zones (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Pearl River Delta), four regional demonstration comprehensive experimental zones (Shanghai, Henan, Chongqing, Shenyang), one big data infrastructure coordinated development comprehensive experimental zone (Inner Mongolia), and one big data comprehensive experimental zone (Guizhou).

Through the construction of these experimental zones, the development of high-tech industrial zones, industrial agglomeration areas, and new industrialization bases will be promoted, creating smart cities and providing abundant experience for the national implementation of the big data strategy.

(3) The Management System for Cross-Border Data Flow is Gradually Improving

Internationally, the trend of data globalization is evident, with a comprehensive rise in data sovereignty jurisdiction in various countries and increasingly frequent data exchanges internationally. China will actively promote the construction of policies and regulations for cross-border data flow management, facilitating the orderly flow and standardized use of data resources, and subsequently promoting the improvement of international rules related to cross-border data flow.

In today's globalized world, data needs to be opened, flowed, and integrated over a broader range to generate higher value and utility. In fields such as international finance, online social networks, cross-border e-commerce, and resource sharing, there is a substantial amount of data exchange between countries, distributed across different nations or regions.

Cross-border data flow faces issues such as ambiguous data ownership, difficulties in cross-domain management, legal discrepancies in data management between countries or regions, challenges in accountability when problems arise, and risks of hacker theft. New opportunities and new challenges imply that while enjoying the conveniences of international data flow, we must also protect data security and enhance international communication. The state needs to focus on protecting the privacy of its citizens, preventing the leakage of national secrets, stopping unlawful actors from stealing data, and combating cybercrime, thereby maintaining data security and creating a favorable cyberspace.

(4) The Application of Big Data in Artificial Intelligence Will Explode

Artificial intelligence will become an important component of the big data ecosystem, with related applications showing explosive growth and achieving breakthroughs in sectors such as healthcare, e-commerce, public transportation, finance, education, and food.

At the 2017 China International Big Data Industry Expo, Jack Ma said:

“... the 'big' in big data refers to big computing. Big computing plus data is called big data... the internet is a production relationship, cloud computing is productivity, and big data is production materials. With production materials, productivity, and production relationships combined, we can achieve intelligence. All data relies on the internet as infrastructure and connects based on all data, combined with powerful computing capabilities...”

Big data is currently the support point for artificial intelligence. Due to the explosive growth of data volume, the richness of training materials for machine learning has greatly increased. Data resources are the fundamental materials for training machine learning. By learning from data, machines continuously accumulate experience and optimize decision parameters, gradually becoming as intelligent as humans.

Machine Heart and Comet Labs jointly released a list of influential AI companies globally

(The 100 most notable AI companies globally, with 27 from China)

(5) Blockchain Technology Will Restructure the Data Flow Mechanism

Blockchain technology, with its characteristics of immutability and traceability, provides more possibilities for addressing data security issues in various fields such as finance, international trade, real estate transactions, the legal industry, and social security, where digital flow, exchange, and transactions exist.

*Blockchain technology, abbreviated BT (Blockchain Technology), is also known as distributed ledger technology. It is an internet database technology characterized by decentralization and transparency, allowing everyone to participate in database records.

If we consider blockchain as a state machine, then each transaction attempts to change a state, and each consensus-generated block confirms the participants' agreement on the state change caused by all transactions in the block.

In simpler terms, if we assume the database is like a ledger, reading and writing to the database can be seen as a bookkeeping activity. The principle of blockchain technology is to identify the fastest and best bookkeeper within a certain period, and then that person will keep the accounts, subsequently sending that page of information to everyone else in the system. This effectively changes all records in the database and sends them to every node on the network, which is why blockchain technology is also known as a distributed ledger.

For a detailed introduction to blockchain technology, please click

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%8C%BA%E5%9D%97%E9%93%BE/13465666