US urged to follow China’s lead in treating data as an economic asset

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) warned in a report published Tuesday that the United States risks ceding global leadership in setting data standards to China, urging Washington to develop a national data strategy that treats data as an economic asset. The report noted that Beijing's 2020 designation of data as a key factor of production has led to thousands of data exchanges and pilot programmes, giving Chinese firms an edge in AI and robotics. 'Standards are difficult to revise once adopted,' the report said, adding that engaging now would be more effective than seeking to unwind an established standard later.

Advertisement US urged to follow China’s lead in treating data as an economic asset Congressional advisory panel urges Washington to develop national strategy as Beijing’s data push gives Chinese firms edge in AI, robotics 2-MIN READ2-MIN Listen Vincent Chow /author/vincent-chow in Washington As China deepens the commercialisation of its vast troves of data, the United States https://www.scmp.com/topics/united-states?module=inline&pgtype=article needs to develop its own national data strategy that treats data as an economic asset to better position itself to prevail in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence https://www.scmp.com/topics/artificial-intelligence?module=inline&pgtype=article?module=inline&pgtype=article and robotics, a key US congressional advisory body has said.In a report published on Tuesday, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission USCC https://www.scmp.com/topics/us-china-economic-and-security-review-commission?module=inline&pgtype=article warned that the US risks ceding global leadership in setting global data standards to China, which would give Chinese firms an advantage over their US counterparts in industries where data is a central pillar of development.“Standards are difficult to revise once adopted,” the report said. “Engaging now would be more effective than seeking to unwind an established standard later.” In 2020, Beijing designated data as a key factor of production, elevating the resource to a core strategic asset at the centre of the country’s economic https://www.scmp.com/topics/chinas-economic-recovery?module=inline&pgtype=article , industrial and military https://www.scmp.com/topics/china-military?module=inline&pgtype=article development.Since then, China’s data economy has begun to “flourish” through the establishment of thousands of data exchanges nationwide and the introduction of pilot programmes that treat data as a resource https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3356498/global-ai-data-shortage-looming-china-boosts-its-own-supply?module=inline&pgtype=article to be shared and traded, the report said.It described Beijing’s approach to data as the same “top-down” industrial policy approach that has made China https://www.scmp.com/topics/china?module=inline&pgtype=article a leader in other industries such as advanced manufacturing.Advertisement Select Voice Select Speed 1.00x