Trading center provides data services for city's newly established pillar industry

In 2015, the Guiyang Global Big Data Exchange - the world's first center for the trade in big data - was established in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province. By October, the revenue generated by the center had reached 100 million yuan ($15 million).

In some developed countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the data industry is long established, which means providers and customers can conduct business with ease, according to Tang Chen, the center's marketing manager.

The center was launched to provide data trading services because big data has been introduced as a pillar industry in Guiyang. Tang said the center originally expected to generate revenue via a commission model.

"However, we quickly discovered that big data was such a new industry that many of our customers had no idea of the kinds of data they needed or how the information could be used," he said.

Now, the center is making money from providing services, such as analyzing customers' needs, helping them to find the right data providers and standardizing the information for further processing and analysis.

"Purchasers pay for the use of the data they require, instead of buying data properties," Tang said.

Initially, data providers were categorized into different industries, such as finance, construction, medicine or transportation. "But later, we noticed that utilization always overlapped with different areas," he said.

For example, insurance companies may require meteorological data, which will contribute to the annual adjustments to insurance coverage in different cities or provinces.

At present, the center's top three clients are financial, transportation and medical companies.

Making laws to govern big data property rights is proving a challenge, according to Tang, who pointed out that China has no laws covering the field. In response, the center has worked with experts to draft the nation's first legislation on the use and collection of big data.

"The biggest obstacle to the development of the industry is the data barrier between different public sector bodies and different regions. The data trade is still new to many departments," Tang said. "In addition to concerns about security, data providers are also reluctant to open up their databases because they may be subject to taxes in cities in which the center is registered."

Although the provinces of Guangzhou, Guizhou and Fujian have becoming increasingly open, it is still difficult to obtain big data from public sector bodies in other regions, according to Tang.

The center has 11 branches in different provinces, which are helping to break barriers and promote cross-departmental and cross-regional use of information.

(China Daily 12/08/2017 page6)