2025-05-20
Exchange of Ideas Empowering an Era of Transformation: The Ongoing Momentum of Digital China!
Source:Digital China Summit
The 8th Digital China Summit, themed “25 Years of Progress: Digital China Opens a New Chapter - Digital Intelligence Leading High-Quality Development,” opened in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, on April 29. “Digital Intelligence Leading High-Quality Development” is not only the theme of the summit, but also a call of the times. From the opening ceremony and main forum to sub-forums and featured events like the “Digital Night Talk on Minjiang River,” participants explored cutting-edge technologies, focused on industrial development, upheld shared values, and envisioned a more civilized future. Through in-depth, wide-ranging dialogues spanning multiple facets of Digital China, they sparked ideas that are fueling the transformation of the times - every insight thought-provoking, every voice echoing with lasting impact.
A Series of Reports Highlight Robust Development
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital China initiative. At the summit, participants reviewed the progress and transformation over the past decade, gaining a tangible sense of Digital China’s dynamic momentum through a series of reports unveiled at the event.
At the main forum, the National Data Administration released the Digital China Development Report (2024). According to the report, in 2024, China made significant strides in building a digital China, demonstrating steady progress with improved quality. According to research from relevant institutions, the Digital China Development Index has maintained an annual growth rate of over 10% for the past three years. “Looking ahead to 2025, ‘AI+’ is emerging as a new driving force for high-quality economic and social development. The role of data as a key factor in empowering various industries will become increasingly prominent. Innovation in digital technology and industrial development will deepen their integration, while the clustering effect of digital industries will continue to grow. Digital China will embrace a brighter future and a fresh new chapter.”
On the afternoon of April 29, the Digital China Development Index System and the Digital China Development Index were released, reinforcing and complementing the Digital China Development Report (2024). Using 2020 as the base period, the Digital China Development Index reached 150.51 in 2024, marking a year-on-year growth of 10.65%. “From a sectoral perspective, the Level-1 development indices for five key areas, i.e., digital infrastructure, digital technology, digital security, data elements, and digital society, all maintained double-digit growth in 2024. This highlights China’s increasing advancement in new infrastructure construction, the deepening integration of technological and industrial innovation, and the accelerated upgrading and rapid development of data utilization,” said Hu Jianbo, Director of the National Institute of Data Development.
In addition, the National Data Resources Survey Report (2024) was also released during this Digital China Summit. According to the report, China’s total data production reached 41.06 zettabytes in 2024, equivalent to over 13 million high-complexity 3D animated films like Ne Zha 2. The report reveals that China’s data resources are steadily expanding, with data from smart devices such as smart homes, intelligent connected vehicles, and drones leading the growth. Furthermore, China’s development and utilization of data resources have steadily increased, with diverse stakeholders ramping up their investments and strategic deployment in artificial intelligence. The market-driven and value-oriented advancement of data elements is also accelerating.
Concrete Practices Showcase the Power of Digital Intelligen
In the digital era, new technologies and emerging trends are driving and accelerating scientific revolutions and industrial transformations. Held once a year, the Digital China Summit offers a key platform for leading research institutions and pioneering enterprises to present their latest achievements in digital intelligence, highlighting the dynamic appeal of digital intelligence.
The open sharing and collaborative use of scientific data is increasingly emerging as a core engine for addressing research challenges and driving industrial upgrading. At the Sub-forum on Scientific Data Cooperation, Cheng Yuan, Deputy Director of the Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Incubation Institute of Fudan University and Assistant to the Dean of the Shanghai Academy of AI for Science, unveiled three scientific data infrastructure projects: the Life Fluid Dataset, the Catalytic Reaction Activity Dataset, and the Scientific Data Annotation Platform. “This series of new scientific data infrastructure aims to break through bottlenecks in research efficiency and foster interdisciplinary innovation through open data sharing and intelligent tools,” he said.
For years, the medical community has been exploring the pathophysiological and hemodynamic mechanisms behind intracranial aneurysms. The Life Fluid Dataset provides multi-scenario simulation support to better predict risks of ruptured intracranial aneurysms and assists in optimizing the design of medical devices such as vascular stents and artificial blood vessels based on hemodynamic principles. This will deepen understanding of the pathological characteristics and hemodynamics of intracranial aneurysms, facilitate advanced research in related fields, and accelerate the clinical translation of diagnostic and treatment innovations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
In recent years, the automotive industry has experienced an unprecedented transformation driven by digital intelligence. At the Sub-forum on Digital Intelligence Reshaping Enterprise Management Paradigms, FAW officially unveiled OpenMind, its enterprise AI agent. As the first AI agent in the automotive sector designed for comprehensive group-wide operations, OpenMind is built on Alibaba’s Tongyi large language model. Through the establishment of a full-chain intelligent system covering perception, decision-making, execution, and evolution, it enables dynamic restructuring of business operations and real-time calling of functional modules, resulting in a substantial improvement in operational efficiency.
“An AI agent should be capable of perception, decision-making, and tool calling. With the support of OpenMind, the Qixingyun Workbench has evolved into an end-to-end intelligent enterprise platform, paving the way for China FAW’s entry into the EOA era,” said Men Xin, Vice President of FAW Hongqi Brand Operation Committee and General Manager of the System Digitalization Department.
Forward-Looking Insights and Strategic Advice
The summit not only showcased cutting-edge technologies but also featured clear-headed analyses of industry trends and suggestions for future development.
The Sub-forum on Digital Talent Cultivation explored new approaches and models for nurturing digital talent in the evolving digital intelligence society. In response to the current shortage of data analysis talent, Chen Songxi, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chair Professor at Tsinghua University’s Department of Statistics and Data Science, emphasized the need to strengthen talent training in statistics and data science. “We recommend optimizing relevant policies and effectively boosting our capacity to cultivate data analysis professionals, thereby laying a solid talent foundation for the development of Digital China,” he said.
At the Sub-forum on Big Data Integration and Application, Zhao Guoxiang, Party Committee Member and Deputy Chief Engineer of the Fifth Electronics Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, analyzed the technological development trends in the big data sector and provided forward-looking predictions on the industry’s future growth. “The development of big data technology is a gradual process, evolving from initial data accumulation and basic processing to steady technological maturity and rapid advancement. It has now entered a stage of mature application and continuous innovation. With its capability to handle massive, diverse, and high-velocity data, big data is fundamentally reshaping operational models and decision-making across industries. Looking ahead, the development of big data technology will show a trend of deep, multidimensional integration and innovation, covering multiple aspects such as technical architecture, application scenarios, security governance, and industrial ecosystems.”
The Sub-forum on Data Element Security and Circulation Infrastructure focused on core topics such as the construction of data infrastructure and the development of high-quality datasets. Mei Hong, Director of the Department of Information Science and Technology at Peking University, noted that fostering and establishing a well-functioning data element market is essential to advancing the digital economy. “China remains in the early exploratory stage of data element development, and faces a range of challenges in areas such as asset valuation, ownership definition, circulation and trading, benefit distribution, and data security and privacy. To address these issues, it is critical to build a secure and trustworthy data circulation infrastructure. This calls for a holistic approach that integrates technological innovation, policy support, and ecosystem development to safeguard data security, remove circulation barriers, promote the marketization of data elements, and fully unleash the potential value of data to fuel the high-quality growth of the digital economy.”