Cross-border digital industry in fast lane

Construction of the International Data Economy Industrial Park in Shanghai’s Lingang Special Area is in full swing with the free trade zone authority committed to promoting the high-level opening-up of Lingang via fostering cross-border digital industry and international data collaboration.

The data park, which was officially unveiled in October 2023, aims to attract top data companies and capital from both home and abroad and drive industrial growth in the data economy sector.

“We’ve successfully attracted some industry-leading companies to settle in our park,” said Cao Yang, deputy director general of the data division of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Lingang Special Area Administration. “They include Project 44, a world’s leading real-time transportation visibility platform, GLP, a global business builder, owner, developer and operator of logistics real estate and data centers, and Cowell Health, a Tencent-backed investment firm focused on the healthcare industry.

“And the first half of next year will be of critical importance to us as we are expecting to secure a number of key projects that we have been negotiating for some time which involve several internationally renowned companies.”

Currently, about 30 companies have settled in the park, which employs 4,000 to 5,000 professional staff.

Under an earlier released masterplan, the data park will go through three major development stages through 2030. There is a near-term goal to build 10 platforms for international data cooperation, more than 50 innovative scenarios dedicated to convenient data flow and global cooperation, attract 100 industry-leading players and achieve a data industry scale of 100 billion yuan (US$13.76 billion) by 2025.

Located in Lingang’s International Collaborative Innovation Zone, the data park is designed with a three-phase development scheme, namely the 100,000-square-meter Startup Zone for Phase I, the 1 million-square-meter Expansion Zone for Phase II, and the 7 million-square-meter Opening-up Zone for Phase III which includes the Startup and Expansion zones. In Phase I, which has already completed construction, stress tests against international digital rules such as DEPA (Digital Economy Partnership Agreement) and the implementation of a number of pilot projects involving key industry scenarios have been planned.

For Phase II, construction is scheduled to conclude by 2026. Positioned as the core function area of the data park, the Expansion Zone is committed to continuously improving data infrastructure and various functional platforms, and also building vibrant industry clusters spanning automobiles, healthcare, shipping, finance, low-carbon and culture.

Phase III or the Opening-up Zone, which will finish construction work by 2030, has been planned with a goal to create an open ecosystem for international data economy boasting diversified industries and complete functions.

In one of the park’s latest endeavours, the first batch of 13 benchmark application scenarios, covering smart factories, intelligent connected vehicles, cross-border data flow, international finance, digital yuan and international data services were unveiled on October 29 in Lingang at the 2024 International Data Economy Industry Cooperation Conference (IDEICC).

Shanghai Lingang International Data Economy Industrial Development Co Ltd was also launched at the conference. As the core platform of the International Data Economy Industrial Park, the company is focusing on businesses related to cross-border data flow, digital space construction, data governance, international data industry investment, among others.

Since the inception of the park a year ago, it has managed to make some institutional innovations, create a number of functional platforms facilitating data flow and industrial development, build a batch of digital infrastructure, form alliances with several international partners which inlcude the “Digital Twin Cities” project with Cyberjaya in Malaysia.

It has also secured industrial innovation projects involving companies such as ThunderSoft and SenseAuto, according to Tang Hao, deputy director of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Lingang Special Area Administration, who made a presentation at the 2024 IDEICC.

For the next stage of the development, the data park will mainly focus on areas including cross-border data flow, construction of an international data center, intelligence computing, and the opening up of value-added telecommunications services.

“We are launching a pilot project to expand the opening up of value-added telecommunications services, and companies including HSBC, Unity and Welltivity are currently in the process of making applications,” Cao said.

“This will allow wholly-owned foreign enterprises to carry out businesses in IDC (internet data centers), CDN (content delivery network), ISP (internet service provider), ICP (internet content provider) and online data processing and transaction, inviting them to engage deeper in Lingang’s innovative businesses such as cloud computing and computing services.”