China Economic Reporter Shi Jian reported from Beijing
The 2026 &#34;Government Work Report&#34; first proposed the creation of a new form of intelligent economy, requiring the deepening and expansion of &#34;Artificial Intelligence +&#34;, promoting the accelerated promotion of a new generation of intelligent terminals and intelligent entities, driving the large-scale commercial application of artificial intelligence in key industries, and cultivating new business formats and models that are inherently intelligent.
Reporters from China Business Journal noted that as the construction of data element infrastructure continues to improve and high-quality data sets are continuously developed, how to shift the data element market towards the &#34;scale, commercialization&#34; and &#34;value realization&#34; stages, forming a solution approach, has also become a focus of attention both inside and outside the conference during the Two Sessions.
Jiang Yang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Guizhou Provincial Big Data Development Administration, stated in an interview during the Two Sessions that application scenarios are the &#34;touchstone&#34; for testing effectiveness, and it is necessary to accelerate the promotion of artificial intelligence applications in key areas, cultivate industry benchmark applications for large models, and create typical application scenarios for artificial intelligence.
Chen Jun, a representative of the National People's Congress and executive vice president of Nankai University, believes that the new form of intelligent economy is no longer the application of a single technology, but rather the deep integration of artificial intelligence with the real economy, digital infrastructure, and industrial ecology, allowing intelligent technology to reshape the underlying logic of the Chinese economy.
Data Group Intensifies Investment in Artificial Intelligence
The development of artificial intelligence is based on data.
From the old-for-new platform for consumer goods in Jiangsu to the &#34;Yangtze River Basin Enterprise Pollutant Discharge Permit Portrait&#34; in the ecological and environmental protection field, since 2026, Jiangsu Data Group Co., Ltd. has applied artificial intelligence in areas such as ecological protection, inclusive finance, consumer services, and cultural and sports services, further demonstrating the multiplier effect of data value.
The newly established Guangxi Data Group Co., Ltd. has also proposed artificial intelligence as its main development direction. The group's business includes artificial intelligence industry application system integration services, artificial intelligence public data platforms, and artificial intelligence innovation and entrepreneurship service platforms.
As local data groups strengthen data infrastructure, how to empower artificial intelligence with data elements and create more application scenarios has become a new direction for data group business.
In an interview, Jiang Yang stated that application scenarios are the &#34;touchstone&#34; for testing the effectiveness of the data element market. Guizhou is deeply implementing the &#34;Artificial Intelligence +&#34; initiative, promoting artificial intelligence applications in key areas such as government affairs and broadcasting, cultivating more than 10 benchmark applications for industry large models, creating over 100 typical application scenarios for artificial intelligence, actively building artificial intelligence application promotion centers, making good use of provincial artificial intelligence laboratories, and striving for national pilot demonstrations such as artificial intelligence application pilot bases.
According to several industry insiders in the data element sector, &#34;Artificial Intelligence +&#34; involves thousands of industries, and in addition to cultivating scenarios, creating a new form of co-construction of the artificial intelligence ecosystem is also crucial.
In Wuxi, facing the emergence of new entities, platforms, scenarios, and achievements in artificial intelligence, Wuxi Data Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as &#34;Wuxi Data Group&#34;) is leading the integration of resources to form a data element ecosystem. In 2025, the Wuxi Market Scene Innovation Promotion Center, Wuxi Artificial Intelligence Industry Association, and Wuxi Artificial Intelligence Industry Service Platform were successively established, which also signifies the formation of an innovative model of &#34;Center + Association + Platform&#34; for artificial intelligence in Wuxi
&#34;The center will focus on three major diverse scenarios: intelligent manufacturing, smart governance of cities, and digital life, helping Wuxi build a 'future city where digital civilization resonates with industrial ecology'; on the association side, the group is leading the establishment of a joint venture with research institutes, currently attracting 50 member units covering key links in the artificial intelligence R&amp;D and service industry chain, forming a new organizational ecology to promote industrial collaborative innovation,&#34; said a relevant person in charge of Wuxi Data Group when discussing how to form an ecological siphon effect.
However, during the National Two Sessions, some representatives and committee members also pointed out the core pain points in the current data factor market, such as insufficient supply of high-quality data and weak data governance capabilities, which have become major difficulties restricting the empowerment of artificial intelligence across various industries.
During the Two Sessions, Fan Shukui, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, president of the All-China Mergers and Acquisitions Association, and chairman of Zhonglian Asset Appraisal Group Co., Ltd., stated that public data, as a fundamental strategic resource of the country, directly determines the breadth and depth of the value release of data factors through its degree of market-oriented development and utilization, and also directly affects the underlying supply capacity of the artificial intelligence industry. &#34;It is recommended to study and issue the 'Interim Measures for the Authorized Operation and Management of Public Data Resource Assets,' clarify the financial system for public data assets, carry out a public data asset registration system, and form a hierarchical identification, application, and operation management system for public data assets.&#34;
Before the Two Sessions, Liu Liehong, director of the National Data Bureau, provided a clear direction at the Fourth Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Development Conference, emphasizing that &#34;the stars and seas of artificial intelligence require the rivers of data to surge.&#34; Currently, the biggest challenge in AI development is not computing power, but the lack of high-quality, trainable, and applicable industry data.
Connecting to the &#34;Smart Economy&#34;
At present, the commercialization and scaling of artificial intelligence have begun to take shape. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that by 2025, the scale of China's core artificial intelligence industry will exceed 1.2 trillion yuan, with the number of enterprises exceeding 6,200, forming a complete industrial system covering basic foundations, model frameworks, and industry applications.
Zheng Zhanjie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that in the future, the &#34;Artificial Intelligence +&#34; initiative will be deepened, and by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the scale of industries related to artificial intelligence will grow to over 10 trillion yuan.
Regarding the exponential growth of the artificial intelligence industry, how local data groups connect to the &#34;smart economy,&#34; Chen Jun believes that the new form of the smart economy is no longer the application of a single technology, but rather a deep integration of artificial intelligence with the real economy, digital infrastructure, and industrial ecology, allowing the future direction to leap into view, indicating that smart technology is making new strides in reshaping the underlying logic of China's economy.
As the first city of China's digital economy, Hangzhou will release 63 &#34;Artificial Intelligence +&#34; scenario demands around the real economy in early 2026, and propose a target of exceeding 500 billion yuan in revenue from the core artificial intelligence industry and achieving a 30% share of the digital economy's core industry value added in GDP by 2026
Regarding how the data exchange and data group can achieve the above goals, a relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Data Group Co., Ltd. stated that the exchange has built a full lifecycle system for data circulation covering &#34;data resourceization + data productization + data assetization + data capitalization,&#34; actively cultivating a new ecosystem for data commerce and fully stimulating the vitality of the data factor market.
The relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Data Group Co., Ltd. also stated that it is necessary to adopt a three-in-one model of &#34;trusted data space + high-quality data sets + data exchange&#34; to comprehensively enhance the efficiency of data factor circulation and assist Hangzhou in building a high ground for artificial intelligence.
The State Council's &#34;Opinions on Deepening the Implementation of the 'Artificial Intelligence +' Action&#34; proposes that by 2027, the penetration rate of artificial intelligence applications will exceed 70%, reaching 90% by 2030, and fully entering a new stage of intelligent economy and intelligent society development by 2035.
During the National Two Sessions, some representatives and committee members also mentioned the problems existing in the commercialization and large-scale operation of artificial intelligence. Zhang Fan, a representative of the National People's Congress and a standing committee member of the Party Committee of China Electrical Equipment Group, as well as the deputy general manager, cited the traditional manufacturing industry he is in as an example, stating that during the promotion of commercialization and large-scale application, there are still prominent issues such as a lack of industrial data sets and insufficient ecological support.
To this end, Zhang Fan suggested researching and formulating fiscal and tax support policies to strengthen the construction of industrial data sets, guiding enterprises to increase resource investment, effectively improving enterprises' initiative and enthusiasm for building industrial data sets, supporting leading enterprises in the industry to take the lead in forming industry data sharing alliances, and vigorously cultivating data service providers, data labeling agencies, and other data commerce ecosystems, forming a co-construction mechanism for industrial data sets led by the government, dominated by the market, and coordinated by multiple parties. This will promote the construction of a number of high-quality industrial data sets at the industry and field levels, providing core data support for &#34;artificial intelligence + manufacturing.&#34;
National Committee member and Dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Bai Zhong'en, believes that the broad application scenarios and rich data resources are two significant advantages for the development of artificial intelligence in China. It is essential to fully utilize the financial system to provide funding support for innovative enterprises and cultivate more compound talents who understand both artificial intelligence and specific industries

The 2026 "Government Work Report" proposed the creation of a new form of intelligent economy, emphasizing the deepening of "Artificial Intelligence +" applications and promoting the commercialization of artificial intelligence. Jiang Yang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, pointed out that application scenarios are key to evaluating effectiveness and called for accelerating the application of artificial intelligence in key areas. Chen Jun, Vice President of Nankai University, believes that the intelligent economy needs to be deeply integrated with the real economy and digital infrastructure. Data groups in Jiangsu Province and Guangxi Province are increasing the application of artificial intelligence, promoting the transformation of the data factor market towards scaling and commercialization

The data element market welcomes a 10 trillion "smart economy" new opportunity