2026-01-07
National Data Work Conference Calls for Accelerated Cultivation of Three Types of Data Circulation Service Institutions
Source:Official WeChat Account of the National Data Administration
From December 29 to 30, 2025, the National Data Work Conference was held in Beijing. To accelerate the development of an open, shared, and secure unified national data market, the conference made targeted arrangements focusing on clarifying the functional positioning of data circulation service institutions, enhancing the efficiency of data circulation and transaction services, and fostering a prosperous data market ecosystem.
The conference noted that three categories of data circulation service institutions—data exchanges, data circulation service platform enterprises, and data service providers—constitute a vital force in promoting data circulation and transactions.
Data exchanges serve as “explorers” of institutional rules and ecosystem cultivation. They have played a positive role in matching supply and demand, formulating transaction rules, providing compliance services, and aggregating market participants. However, their functional positioning remains insufficiently precise, their role has yet to be fully realized, and transaction volumes are still relatively small. The sector is currently in an uphill and demanding phase of development, marked by arduous progress amid mounting challenges. The development path of data exchanges must not simply replicate the model of standardized commodity exchanges, nor should the establishment of a data exchange be equated with the creation of a data market. At the same time, the role of data exchanges in data circulation and transactions should neither be overestimated nor should the difficulty of their development be underestimated.
Data circulation service platform enterprises are market entities that facilitate data circulation and transactions through their data infrastructure. They are the “main driving force” behind industry-level data circulation and development and utilization, including industrial internet platform companies, data infrastructure operators, and cloud service providers. Serving industry and pursuing value co-creation, with data exchange as the primary activity complemented by data trading, are the defining characteristics of this category.
Data service providers are enterprises that treat data as a key factor of production and business operations. They serve as the “vanguard” in developing data products and delivering diversified services. This group primarily comprises data labeling companies, local data groups, and data service enterprises with extensive data resources. Their defining feature is the provision of precise, data-driven services. For example, some data service providers collect bulk commodity price information and build data-driven commodity trading models, offering products such as price indices and industry analysis reports to empower industry development and innovation.
The conference emphasized that for each approach to data development and utilization, there corresponds a suitable model of data circulation and trading. At present, priority should be given to advancing the market-oriented and value-based utilization of data as a production factor, guiding diverse stakeholders to actively explore and innovate data circulation and transaction models, expanding the supply of high-quality data products and services, and promoting secure, compliant, and efficient data circulation and trading. At the same time, efforts should be focused on the three types of institutions to accelerate research on measuring the scale of data circulation and transactions, as well as on developing a monitoring indicator system. A scientific and practical monitoring framework that accurately reflects current data circulation and trading should be established, thereby building a broader social consensus on advancing the market-oriented and value-based utilization of data.
