The “Blue Book of Big Data – Annual Report on Development of Big Data in China No.2”, compiled by a key big data laboratory and published by the Social Sciences Academic Press, was unveiled on May 28 with Shenzhen ranked No.1 in the big data development index.

　　The blue book, which evaluated 31 Chinese key cities (excluding four municipalities and Lhasa), highlighted that China is currently bolstering development of big data through breakthrough innovation and application of big data, which is playing a bigger role in improving state governance, enhancing public services, and boosting economic transformation and innovation-oriented development. The big data industry has been transformed to become a new driver and source of growth for economic and social development.

　　The “Development of Big Data in China No.2” continued its evaluation of the cities’ application of big data in the fields of politics, commerce and civilian use. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Guiyang, Qingdao, Ningbo and Xiamen were named the top 10 cities, according to the ranking that evaluated 31 Chinese key cities in 2017.

　　Guangdong, Beijing, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, Guizhou, Tianjin, Chongqing and Fujian were the top 10 provincial-level regions.

　　The 2017 index outperformed that in 2016, with an average score of 32.47, up 25% from 25.98 in 2016. Among the 31 cities, 16 saw their scores remain above the average level. In terms of score distribution, Shenzhen only led the other cities by a small margin in 2017, just as it did in 2016, indicating that cities are closing the gap in their big data development.

　　The blue book showed that Shenzhen and Guangzhou led other Chinese key cities in big city development, with Shenzhen ranking No.1 and performing well across all indicators. The city took a big lead in the development of the digital economy and ranking No.1 in commercial and civilian applications. However, Shenzhen saw a big decline in the political application ranking coming in at 7th.

　　Meanwhile, political application of big data still plays the largest role, while commercial application is just beginning to take effect. However, civilian applications have yet to give a strong boost to big data development. Cities such as Shenzhen, where big data development has been more rapid, saw their score in commercial application rise above that of civilian application, indicating that such cities have switched to focus on commercial application to boost overall development.

　　This indicates that as big data development enters a new phase, commercial applications will serve as a main driver, and big data, as a new factor of production, has demonstrated its role of driving innovation and providing a new impetus for development of the digital economy and the upgrade of traditional industries.

　　The blue book suggests that only when more supportive policies are rolled out will commercial use of big data be able to boost development of big data in society.