China issues guidelines on big data promotion

BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued guidelines to boost the development of big data, an official statement said on Saturday.

The action framework for promoting big data, ratified by Premier Li Keqiang, aims to forge a new model for social governance in the coming five to 10 years, highlighting accurate management and multi-dimensional cooperation.

It stipulates that a trans-departmental data sharing platform should be formed by the end of 2017 and a unified platform for governmental data should be established before the end of 2018, which allows citizens to get access to public data resources including credit, transport, public health, employment, culture, education, science, agriculture, finance and weather service.

China should accelerate the opening and sharing of government data to promote the integration of resources and improve governance, boost industrial innovation and foster new business patterns to support economic restructuring.

To this end, the government will set up an overall coordination mechanism for big data development and application, speed up the establishment of relevant rules, and encourage cooperation between the government, enterprises and institutions, according to the statement.

China aimed to cultivate a batch of international competitive brands in big data industry, 10 world leading enterprises and 500 firms focused on big data application, service and manufacturing.