Five departments: Accelerate the cultivation of the data element market and promote the integrated development of the data industry with data-intensive industries such as low-altitude economy, autonomous driving, and embodied intelligence.

Cailian News, October 31 — The National Development and Reform Commission and four other departments released the 'Action Plan for Advancing Comprehensive Digital Transformation through Smart City Development.'

Five Departments: By 2035, a group of modernized cities with international competitiveness and global influence will emerge.

It was proposed that by the end of 2027, data-enabled urban socioeconomic development would achieve significant progress. The initiative “Efficient handling of one matter” will cover key events in urban operations, while “Efficient completion of one matter” will encompass high-frequency public service items. The digital economy will become a new driver for urban development. Breakthrough progress will be achieved in key areas and critical links such as smart and efficient urban governance, convenient and inclusive services, and urban digital renewal, with over 50 cities completing comprehensive digital transformation. Megacities and large cities will take the lead in establishing new systems for smart and efficient governance, implementing advanced, usable, and independently controllable urban large models. By 2035, a group of modernized cities with international competitiveness and global influence will emerge.

Five departments: Accelerate the cultivation of the data element market and promote the integrated development of the data industry with data-intensive industries such as low-altitude economy, autonomous driving, and embodied intelligence.

The plan mentions advancing the realization of data element value to drive industrial growth through urban development. Leveraging the advantages of urban industrial agglomeration, talent concentration, and data aggregation, it will strengthen open innovation in application scenarios and promote the convergence of urban data resources. Efforts will focus on accelerating the cultivation of the data element market, creating a highland for innovative development of the data industry, and promoting the integration of the data industry with data-intensive industries such as low-altitude economy, autonomous driving, and embodied intelligence. Support will be provided to qualified regions to develop trusted urban data spaces, facilitating the integrated application of public, enterprise, and personal data to drive the digital industry forward. New business models such as “Data as a Service” and “Model as a Service” will be developed according to local conditions, nurturing innovative digital enterprises and cultivating industry-leading enterprises with ecological influence. Mechanisms such as data vouchers and model vouchers will be explored to reduce corporate innovation costs.

Five Departments: Support qualified regions and city clusters in developing data industry cluster zones and fostering digital industry clusters in stages.

The plan proposes developing the digital economy to drive urban growth through industrial promotion. Digital technologies will be leveraged to repurpose idle commercial buildings, old factory areas, and aging streets, creating carriers for data innovation and entrepreneurship, and establishing innovative industrial and business communities centered around data. A digital public service system will be built within industrial parks, constructing a resource pool of digital transformation products and solutions to facilitate the implementation of scientific and technological innovations in traditional, emerging, and future industries, creating an urban pilot testing ground for first adoption. Support will be extended to qualified regions and city clusters to develop data industry cluster zones, exploring financial service products such as data insurance and data trusts, and fostering digital industry clusters in stages. Strengthened digital collaboration will be promoted among modern city clusters and metropolitan areas, supporting qualified regions to enhance data element interconnectivity and enable cross-regional sharing of digital services.

Five Departments: Promote the construction of intelligent roadside infrastructure and cloud-based foundational platforms to enhance vehicle-road coordination.

The plan highlights accelerating the digital renewal and transformation of urban infrastructure. It calls for the orderly implementation of ubiquitous urban sensing projects, with unified planning and efficient deployment of intelligent sensing terminals in high-risk areas such as pipeline leakages, slope risks along roads, geologically hazardous zones, flood control and drainage nodes, waterlogged areas, and urban bridges and tunnels. Artificial intelligence and other technologies will be applied to deepen the construction of urban lifeline safety engineering, promoting the digital transformation and intelligent management of infrastructure such as urban gas, water supply, drainage, heating, bridges, tunnels, and utility tunnels, while strengthening the investigation and remediation of potential road collapse hazards. Mechanisms for synchronizing the planning and construction of digital and municipal infrastructure will be established. Support will be given to qualified regions to moderately advance the layout of low-altitude data infrastructure, supporting urban inspection, logistics delivery, and production operation scenarios, while promoting the construction of intelligent roadside infrastructure and cloud-based foundational platforms to enhance vehicle-road coordination.