China’s State Data Bureau Prioritises Three Key Areas for High-Quality Digital Economy Development in 2026

In 2026, the State Data Bureau will focus on three key areas to fully promote the high-quality development of the digital economy, building on its coordinating role and efforts to advance digital industrialisation and industrial digitalisation.

The first priority is the hierarchical cultivation of digital industrial clusters. Regarded as a comprehensive carrier for shaping the core competitiveness of the digital economy, these clusters will be driven by the State Data Bureau to facilitate the cross-subject and cross-regional circulation and utilisation of data. This initiative aims to deepen the integration of technological and industrial innovation, with data chains leading the in-depth integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains and talent chains. The bureau will promote the development of three types of digital industrial clusters: innovation-led, regional pillar and regional characteristic ones.

Secondly, efforts will be made to foster and expand innovative digital economy enterprises. This year, the State Data Bureau will work with relevant departments to select a number of enterprises with strong innovation vitality and great growth potential for inclusion in a cultivation database. Focusing on the development needs of these enterprises, the bureau will adopt tailored policies and provide one-stop policy support in terms of computing power, data, scenarios and funds. Through precise and full-cycle services, it aims to cultivate a group of gazelle enterprises and unicorn enterprises with industry influence and innovation origination capacity.

The third key area is advancing the all-round digital transformation of cities. The State Data Bureau will deepen the development of smart cities and push forward pilot projects for all-round urban digital transformation. It will accelerate the digital and intelligent empowerment of the manufacturing industry to improve quality and efficiency, support the establishment of digital transformation enabling platforms, and build a collaborative innovation mechanism to form a digital transformation ecosystem featuring supply-demand connection, full-chain coordination and value-driven development. The construction of high-quality industry data sets will be promoted to drive the innovative development of the industrial manufacturing sector.

Additionally, the State Data Bureau will continuously strengthen data-driven expansion and quality improvement of the service industry. It will accelerate the cultivation of high-value scenarios in logistics, finance, medical care and elderly care, leveraging data integration and application to boost the development of the service industry. These targeted measures are expected to inject strong impetus into China’s digital economy, laying a solid foundation for its sustained and healthy development.