In Depth: China’s Efforts to Unlock the Value of Data as an Asset

A half-century into the Information Age, information itself is finally getting its due.

Chinese businesses and regulators are making new efforts to put a value on data generated in commerce and to monetize information as an asset in the digital economy.

Government data indicates that from 2012 to 2021, China’s digital economy expanded from 11 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) to more than 45 trillion yuan, and its share of the national economy grew from 21.6% to 39.8%. The burgeoning digital economy generates vast amounts of data, which can be harnessed for business development through collection and analysis.