Guiyang's big data blueprint for 14th Five-Year Plan period

Wu Hongchun, director of Guiyang's big data bureau, gives a report on big data development in Guiyang. [Photo/guiyang.gov.cn]

Guiyang – capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province – on March 21 released a report on big data development, which summarized the work completed last year in the field and released a blueprint for the work to come in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) for the city and Guian New Area.

The region's big data sector reportedly made great achievements in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), with both Guiyang and the Guian New Area becoming a hub for leading tech groups including Apple, Dell, Huawei, Tencent, JD and Inspur.

Guiyang and Guian are believed to have played a key role in helping resident companies CASICloud-Tech Co, Langma Co and Baishan Cloud Co enter the list of the top 100 internet enterprises in China, and the two areas have presided over the integration between big data and the real economy in their markets. As a result, the big data sector has enjoyed leapfrog developments in recent years.

For its part, Guiyang has also reportedly improved its innovative ability, which has led to domestic databases and sovereign block chains making breakthrough progress.

This in turn has further helped the subsequent formulation and implementation of regional regulations.

Guiyang – as the first national big data and network security demonstration pilot city – took an early lead by establishing a center for big data security drills. Moreover, it has published the first multilingual professional big data tool book and completed the first national big data engineering laboratory and exchange center.

Digital management has also found a place to take root in Guiyang. The city has promoted the sharing of governance data and was ranked 6th last year in terms of open data among 30 major cities in the world.

Nowadays, almost all municipal government affairs can be dealt with online, which was been praised by the State Council. More than 1 million users now have registered electronic credentials, making things very convenient for the public.

Elsewhere, Guiyang has attracted a series of big-data-oriented centers and reportedly achieved big advances in infrastructure construction. Villages with more than 30 residential households have all gained 4G network coverage, while villages with over 20 households have achieved 95 percent radio signal and television cable installation.

Having experienced six years of development, it is understood that various big data expos held in Guiyang have won their spurs in terms of high-profile, global reputations. Though rocked by the COVID-19 epidemic last year, the 2020 Big Data Expo reportedly attracted 813,300 professional visitors from at least 200 countries and the event was covered by more than 2,000 media outlets.

Looking back on 2020, the main big data indicators in the region increased against the trend: with the annual revenue of the software and information technology service industry hitting 20.29 billion yuan ($3.1 billion), for year-on-year growth of 26.85 percent.

A total of 26 enterprises above a designated size – those with annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($3.04 million) or more – that are engaged in the internet and related software and information technology services set up in Guiyang and Guian last year. They reported combined annual revenue of 14.91 billion yuan, achieving a 50.1 percent surge in growth on the previous year.

Guiyang and Guian's total telecommunications business was worth 87.31 billion yuan last year, up 26.1 percent on 2019. A total of 160 investment projects focusing on big data settled in the region, with total investment of 18.7 billion yuan – including electronic information manufacturing – while 166 related businesses were introduced into Guiyang.

With 2021 marking the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period – during which time promoting big data will figure as one of the top priorities – Guiyang plans to make concerted efforts in five specific areas.

Digital industrialization has been identified as being what, first and foremost, needs to be addressed and strengthened. Developing 100 billion yuan-level software and information technology service industry clusters and leveraging the internet to drive new growth momentum are seen as being of great importance.

Guiyang's integration of big data with its physical economy, rural revitalization, people's livelihoods and social governance is viewed as being essential to quicken the city's digital development pace.

Applying big data in 200 typical applications scenarios – covering transportation, medicine, education, cultural tourism, environmental protection and water utilities – is also believed to be well on the way.

In addition, the construction of multiple industrial parks along Shubo Avenue is deemed necessary to be on the city's agenda because it is expected to facilitate projects in key areas, including big data innovation, industrial development, urban governance, traffic optimization and people's livelihood services.

It is understood that the innovation of big data in terms of regulations, standards and technology – together with the building up of talented teams – will herald new competitive advantages.

Strengthening policies and regulations in the field of big data is seen as necessary to promote coordinated development between Guiyang and the Guian New Area and to push forward information sharing and the integration of applications.

The consensus is that 2021 will continue to witness the growth of big data to high-standard and high-quality development paradigms. Moreover, Guiyang is expected to take most of this platform to boost the local digital economy.