The Shifting Role of Government in Government Data Openness

Abstract

Data is the oil of the new digital era, and whoever gets the data gets the first chance of development. Government data is the data type with the most complete preservation and the largest scale in the data classification system. Open government data has become the focus of digital strategies in all countries. China has unique institutional advantages and is committed to forming a nationally integrated infrastructure institutional system and technical system: In terms of organizational construction, China has formed the National Data Bureau after institutional reform, which together with provincial data management bureaus forms an intensive and integrated digital government with central and local synergy, uniform standards and efficient operation. In terms of market construction, the central government policy encourages and local governments form a two-tier data market and authorized operation mechanism on an early and pilot basis, in order to give full play to the role of a competent government and an effective market, which is the centralized embodiment of national governance capacity modernization in the field of big data. Comparing with the EU government data space strategy, the Chinese government is committed to taking up the role of improving public welfare, bridging digital trust, and building a credible digital ecosystem. It can be found that the government’s role changes from administrative regulator to cooperative organizer, from one-way bureaucratic governance to two-way interactive service, neither laissez-faire nor over-interference in the market formation process, and adopts a government-directed market-led policy approach to provide and guarantee the innovation environment of the digital economy.