The Shanghai Data Exchange (“Exchange”) reached cooperation with seven strategic partners on the afternoon of June 25. They will help the Exchange comprehensively build basic capabilities in data trading, innovate and make breakthroughs in core capabilities such as “policy implementation”, “institutional supply”, “ecosystem building”, and “market leading”, and jointly promote a multi-level market for data circulation and trading, data capitalization and digital economy development.

Professor Zhou Xianghong from the Department of Public Administration of Tongji SEM has recently been interviewed by the 632 Observation column of the Oriental Financial Pudong Channel. During the interview, she focused on Shanghai’s new digital economy frontier and expressed her views on the Exchange’s efforts to transform data from “resources” to “assets”.

Q1: There are many types of partners in this contract, involving law, public security, and finance. What are the characteristics of data trading compared to general merchandise trading?

Zhou Xianghong: Compared to general merchandise trading, firstly, data trading is heterogeneous. Secondly, as a new trading mode, data trading involves data storage, cleaning, encapsulation and exchange. The partners contracted this time serve to ensure security and stability, and there will be a newer ecosystem and more entities to join in the future.

Q2: Stock exchanges are infrastructure for stock trading, then what is the infrastructure for data trading?

Zhou Xianghong: In a broad sense, data exchanges are the infrastructure for data trading just like courier stations were the infrastructure in the past for people to transfer information. In a narrow sense, data is traded through software and hardware supporting facilities. Further, in the process of optimizing trading services, screens are needed to support process visualization and laws and regulations and risk control facilities are needed to ensure trading security.

Q3: In the B2B area, will there be great potential for data trading or data product benefits in the future?

Zhou Xianghong: There will be three main benefits for enterprises: firstly, large acquisition quantity; secondly, relatively mature laws, regulations and standards; thirdly, large product demand. For example, the “Enterprise Dianzhihui” digital product traded between Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Shanghai Electric Power will give play to the advantages of wide coverage, high real-time property and high accuracy of power big data to help commercial banks innovate in financial products and services for enterprises in reliance on energy data.

Q4: What are the advantages of developing a digital economy for Shanghai Pudong New Area?

Zhou Xianghong: There is a saying, “The development of China is reflected in Shanghai and the development of Shanghai is reflected in Pudong.” Pudong has unique advantages in politics, economy, society and culture. Pudong should not only highlight its advantages in future digital economy development but also transform them into a broader influence to lead digital economy development. I think that is what we all expect.