Let Big Data Create Great Value
Big data is the product of the development of informatization to a certain stage. With the deep integration of information technology and human production and life, the Internet is rapidly popularized, and global data is characterized by explosive growth and massive aggregation, which has had a great impact on economic development, social progress, national governance and people’s lives. Comrade Supreme Leader pointed out in the second collective study on the implementation of the national big data strategy in the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee that big data is developing with each passing day. We should assess the situation, carefully plan, advance the layout, strive for initiative, deeply understand the current situation and trend of big data development and its impact on economic and social development, analyze the achievements and existing problems in China’s big data development, promote the implementation of the national big data strategy, accelerate the improvement of digital infrastructure, promote the integration and open sharing of data resources, ensure data security, and accelerate the construction of digital China. The spirit of this important speech has pointed out the direction and tasks for promoting the implementation of the national big data strategy.
China’s big data development has unique advantages.
Looking at the world, China’s big data development has unique advantages. Although many countries regard economic digitalization as an important kinetic energy to realize innovation and development, and make forward-looking layout in cutting-edge technology research and development, open data sharing, privacy and security protection, personnel training and other aspects, some developed countries have also introduced big data development plans one after another, but no country can promote the development of big data as a national strategy like China, and continue to promote it in depth. In 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed "Implementing the National Big Data Strategy"; In 2016, the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" outlines the directional goals and tasks for comprehensively promoting the development of big data; In 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed "promoting the deep integration of Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and real economy". This continuous direction guidance and top-level design have made China in the forefront of the world in terms of big data development planning and layout, policy support, capital investment, technology research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship. Moreover, China has the advantages of scale and diversification in data resources, and a late-comer advantage in Internet and mobile Internet data applications, and a number of innovative enterprises based on big data applications have emerged. All these show that China has a good foundation and conditions for using big data to promote innovation and development, and also shows the extreme importance and correctness of the implementation of big data strategy by the party and the state.
But we must also see that the development of big data in China is still in its infancy as a whole. Although the pattern of rapid development has basically taken shape, it faces many challenges in terms of open sharing of data, breakthroughs in core technologies, and development driven by big data. In promoting the implementation of the national big data strategy, the practice path is still not clear enough, and the cognition of demand is still vague; The open sharing of data lags behind, and the data resource dividend has not been fully released; The profit model of enterprises is unstable, and the toughness and integrity of the industrial chain are insufficient; The core technology has not made a major breakthrough, and its application is still at a low level; There are loopholes in security management and privacy protection, and the system is still not perfect; The market activity is not enough and the supply of talents is seriously insufficient. These outstanding problems are the main factors that restrict the development of big data in China. At present, the development of big data is entering a critical period from concept promotion to application landing. It is very important and necessary to scientifically understand big data and enhance the ability to grasp the development law of big data.
Accurately grasp the law of big data value generation
Fundamentally speaking, the problems that restrict the development of big data in China largely stem from the level of understanding and thinking, that is, from the unclear understanding of the connotation of big data and the mechanism and law of the generation of big data value. The value of big data has its inherent laws. Only by deeply understanding and mastering these laws can we improve our ability to use big data scientifically.
A large amount of data is a prerequisite for the value of big data. When the amount of data is not large enough, they are just discrete "fragments", and it is difficult for people to understand the stories behind them. With the increasing amount of data, after reaching and exceeding a certain critical value, these "fragments" will show regularity on the whole and reflect the nature of things behind the data to some extent. This shows that a large amount of data is the premise of data value, and big data has great value. The "big" of big data is relative and related to the issues of concern. Generally speaking, the more macroscopic the problem to be analyzed and solved, the greater the amount of data needed.
Data association is the basis of realizing the value of big data. The problems solved by using big data usually involve multi-departments, multi-fields, multi-individuals and multi-perspectives. The accumulation of pure data may not necessarily make people understand the overall situation of things. Only by gathering and correlating data from different sides and different parts can we have a holistic and essential understanding of things. Data aggregation makes data possible to generate value, and data association makes data realize value, so it is necessary to promote open sharing of data. Governments and enterprises are the main owners of big data. To promote the transformation of big data into development momentum, it is necessary to ensure data supply and reasonable, legal and open sharing.
Computational analysis makes big data ultimately generate value. Big data is usually of great value but low value density, so it is difficult to extract value by direct reading. Only through the comprehensive use of mathematics, statistics, computers and other tools for big data analysis can big data generate value and complete the transformation from data to information to knowledge and decision-making. The big data value chain includes data collection, circulation, storage, analysis and processing, application and other links, among which analysis and processing are the core. If you only store it without analyzing it, it is equivalent to buying rice without cooking, which will not produce practical benefits. At present, China’s big data industry is too concentrated in some links (such as storage) and there is a danger of overcapacity, but the production capacity in the analysis and processing links is seriously insufficient, which should attract attention. We should also see that the traditional statistical methods and data mining methods used to analyze data are not applicable to big data, and we must rebuild the statistical basis, calculation basis and data mining method basis of big data.
Widespread use has multiplied the benefits of big data. Big data and its products have the characteristics of easy replication, low cost, superimposed appreciation and spread appreciation, and can be widely, repeatedly and superimposed, with high marginal utility and positive externalities. The same set of data can not only be provided to different users at a lower cost under the premise of rationality and legality, so that a single data can serve multiple subjects; But also for different purposes, using different methods for analysis, so that a single data can produce diverse values. Therefore, big data can be put into use once and used repeatedly, resulting in multiple benefits, which is conducive to improving the ability of all walks of life to apply data to solve difficulties and problems.
Big data is a new production factor and an important basic strategic resource, which contains great value. After deep excavation and application, it can effectively promote economic transformation and development, reshape the country’s competitive advantage, and improve the modernization level of national governance. Big data can be instigated by system, accumulation and technology, so it can become a driving force for the development of underdeveloped areas. Big data has universal technology, which can be widely and deeply applied in various fields such as enterprise production, government management and social governance, and improvement of people’s livelihood, resulting in incalculable value and benefits. Leading cadres at all levels, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs and even the whole people should form big data thinking, raise their awareness of using big data consciously, legally and effectively, enhance their ability to use data to promote various tasks, and make big data play a greater role in economic and social development.
Break through the bottleneck and implement the national big data strategy in depth
Comrade Supreme Leader’s important exposition on "analyzing the achievements and existing problems in China’s big data development and promoting the implementation of the national big data strategy" shows that to promote the implementation of the national big data strategy, we must adhere to the problem orientation, size up the situation, carefully plan, advance the layout, strive for initiative, and strive to break through the bottleneck of big data development.
Solve the problem of macro-planning landing. The "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" and the important speech made by the Supreme Leader in the second collective study in the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee have made macro-planning and top-level design for the implementation of the big data strategy. Government departments at all levels should formulate detailed implementation rules as soon as possible to solve the problems of macro-planning and top-level design. First, it is necessary to fill in the shortcomings of gathering data and analyzing data, but also to guard against overcapacity in storage and other links, prevent heavy storage and light analysis, and promote the healthy development of the big data industry. Second, guide the rational layout of data centers, give full play to the role of national engineering laboratories for big data, integrate scattered data resources, and promote the efficient collection and effective integration of big data in key areas. Third, promote the integration and open sharing of data resources to ensure the supply of data resources. Fourth, seize the opportunity of "One Belt, One Road" construction and promote the cross-border flow of data in an orderly manner.
Strengthen core technology research. We should concentrate on collaborative research and break through the top ten technical bottlenecks of big data, including blockchain technology and data exchange technology at the data supply level, big data storage management technology, distributed computing technology and programming language technology at the data processing level, big data basic algorithm, machine learning and data intelligence technology at the data analysis level, and big data visualization and authenticity determination technology at the big data application level. Strengthen the research on the basic problems of big data science, and make a forward-looking layout around major basic research such as the theoretical system of big data science, big data computing system and analysis theory, and big data-driven subversive applications. Strengthen the comprehensive application of modern information technology, promote the deep integration of the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence with the real economy, and guard against the isolation and conceptualization of modern information technology.
Achieve breakthroughs in key areas. To consolidate the advantages of China’s big data development, in addition to promoting the innovation and development of the big data industry, we must also achieve breakthroughs in key areas. First, encourage a number of industries, such as electric power, transportation, finance, Internet and manufacturing, which have a great impact on the national economy, are rich in data and are relatively easy to share, to take the lead in using big data to accelerate development, and play a demonstration and driving role. The second is to promote big data to achieve key breakthroughs in government governance and people’s livelihood services, such as promoting the active application of big data technology in courts and petition systems, improving the level of government decision-making and risk prevention, promoting the prevention of social contradictions from the source, and improving the accuracy and effectiveness of social governance. The third is to deploy a number of big data application projects in the areas of education, medical care, housing, transportation and other people’s livelihood services, promote the transformation and upgrading of related fields, significantly improve the level of public services, and enhance people’s sense of happiness.
Accelerate the construction of talent team. At present, there is a strong demand for talents related to the development of big data, and it is urgent to accelerate the construction of talent teams in related fields. First, by setting up a big data service center, activating the big data industry market and strengthening education and training, we will encourage talents in the fields of mathematics, computer science and information technology to transform into the field of big data. Second, according to the development needs, improve supporting measures, encourage overseas high-end talents to return to China, and actively introduce high-level talents and leading talents of big data. The third is to build a multi-level big data talent training system, encourage universities to set up data science and data engineering related majors, and encourage cross-school joint training to carry out interdisciplinary big data comprehensive talents training. The fourth is to implement collaborative education among industries, societies and universities, and cultivate innovative talents in big data technology and application.
Effectively protect national data security. Big data contains a huge amount of information. With the wide application of big data, national data security has gradually become an important part of national security. The fundamental policy to ensure national data security is to build an independent and controllable big data security system. We should take the construction of various important national information infrastructures as a breakthrough, promote the large-scale application of domestic chips, domestic network equipment, domestic operating systems, domestic databases, domestic cloud platforms, cloud storage, cloud security and other key software and hardware products, and realize the autonomy of key software and hardware by stages. Strengthen the innovative application of big data technology in the field of information security, strengthen the research and development of key security technologies, seize the opportunities of security technologies based on big data, form the advantages of independent core technologies, improve the level of China’s big data security technology, and gradually form a pattern of transmission, storage, mining and publishing of big data based on independently controllable technologies and equipment. We should also speed up the construction of laws and regulations, clarify the data rights and interests of the state, collectives and individuals under the legal framework, formulate relevant systems for the confirmation, opening, circulation and transaction of data resources, improve the data property protection system, and effectively safeguard people’s interests, social stability and national security. (Author: Xu Zongben China Academy of Sciences, Zhang Hongyun, Associate Professor, School of Management, Xi ‘an Jiaotong University)