Building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao "Data Special Zone" Guangdong issues the country's first provincial-level top-level design for digital society

Securities Times reporter Wu Shaolong

Recently, the General Office of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province issued the “Implementation Opinions of Guangdong Province on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of a Digital Society” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”). The “Opinions” proposes 18 specific measures across five areas, aiming to build a new development paradigm for a digital society that features Guangdong characteristics, is inclusive and accessible, and is smart and convenient.

This document is the first top-level design at the provincial level in China for the development of a digital society. It builds on Guangdong’s advantages in the digital economy and digital government, focuses on key and difficult issues in digital society development, proposes a series of innovative measures, and promotes deep integration between digital technologies and social development. It strives to create a new development paradigm for a digital society with Lingnan characteristics, providing a “Guangdong experience” that is replicable and scalable nationwide for high-quality digital society development.

The “Opinions” establishes a “two-step” development pathway: by 2027, the social digital foundation will be more solid, rules for digital adaptation will be more complete, and the application and popularization rates of new-generation intelligent terminals, intelligent agents, and so on in social services, daily life, and governance will increase significantly, with consumption potential fully unleashed. By 2030, digital and intelligent technologies will be closely intertwined with social development, forming a new development paradigm for Guangdong’s digital society that is inclusive and accessible, smart and convenient—rich in Lingnan characteristics, deeply rooted in the Chinese cultural lineage, and also leading the trend of development in the era.

Starting from enhancing the sense of gain and happiness of the people in digital development, the “Opinions” sets out, around the key areas and key links of digital society development, five aspects of tasks: innovate scenario applications to build a new way for the operation of the digital society; connect organizational units to shape a new structural form for the digital society; strengthen the digital and intelligent foundation to create new driving forces for digital society development; enhance digital literacy to unleash new vitality for digital society development; optimize the digital-adaptation environment to create a new ecosystem for digital society development.

In detail, the “Opinions” proposes shaping a new structural form for the digital society, among which building an open and innovative digital bay area is a major highlight. Guangdong will accelerate the integration process of the digital bay area, build the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Data Special Economic Zone,” and advance high-efficiency, convenient, and secure cross-border data flows. It will strengthen connectivity of digital infrastructure and jointly build a smart city cluster across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It will promote cooperation in the digital economy among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao and build key digital industrial clusters in the bay area. It will strengthen digital cooperation across multiple fields such as elderly care, healthcare, transportation, and ecological environment, and advance scenario innovations for the integrated use of data resources.

To consolidate the digital and intelligent foundation and build new driving forces for digital society development, the “Opinions” proposes, including: proactively plan advanced information networks, accelerate the deployment and pilot rollout of 10-gigabit passive optical networks (10G) and 5G-A, accelerate R&D of 6G technology, and take an early look at the 6G application ecosystem. It will build a high-quality intelligent computing power supply system, orderly promote the construction and layout of computing power centers, and improve the ability to supply intelligent computing resources and the efficiency of resource utilization. It will accelerate the construction of the blockchain network in Guangdong Province and advance the building of foundational infrastructure for data circulation and utilization that integrates “data chains.”

Regarding the guarantee system, the “Opinions” proposes multiple measures. Among them, it strengthens coordinated linkage between fiscal funds and social capital, guides various types of social capital to invest, and encourages financial institutions to continuously increase credit allocation for digital key areas and financing support. It will explore establishing a scenario innovation incubation mechanism, and strengthen the cultivation and opening up of diverse application scenarios, among other efforts.

(Editor-in-charge: Wang Zhiqiang HF013)

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