As the core production factor of digital economy, data is driving the change of various industries at an unprecedented speed. How to dig out more high-quality data, so that these valuable data resources really “live”, and become a power source to drive the development of AI innovation? At the Shanghai Forum on April 25, 2025, Liu Dong, Director of China Future Internet Engineering Center (CFIEC), gave his answer: through the establishment and improvement of a complete set of international data circulation standard system, and the construction of an open, safe and efficient data space network, to maximize the release of the value of data, and to help the development of AI industry innovation.

Liu Dong, Director of CFIEC

Data is the foundation of AI, and AI is the catalyst of data.

Liu Dong mentioned in his speech that “data and AI are like two sides of the same coin”, data is the foundation of AI, and AI is the catalyst of data. Data is the basis for AI model training, high-quality data can give birth to a smarter AI system; and AI, in turn, improves the efficiency of data processing and analysis, tapping the potential value of data. This complementary relationship not only provides solid support for the progress of AI technology, but also opens up a broad prospect for the transformation of data value.

In recent years, the volume of global data has exploded, but the data that can really be effectively utilized only accounts for about 20% of the total, and there is still a large amount of high-quality and valuable data, such as public data and industry data, which is not fully circulated, and there is still a huge space for excavation and enhancement. In order to solve the problem of data circulation and sharing, data space has become a focus area of global attention, aiming at relying on data space to promote the free circulation of data on a large scale, at low cost, and in a safe and trustworthy manner, constructing high-quality datasets, and realizing the maximization of the value of data from resources to assets and then to capital.

Promoting the construction of data space standards to accelerate the flow of global data

While building the technical architecture of the data space, it is urgent to promote the establishment of international standards to form a broader industrial consensus and help the global data space interconnectivity and interoperability. In his speech, Liu Dong mentioned that in March 2025, the “IEEE P1988 Data Space Architecture Standard Cluster for Integrated Privacy Technologies” has been formally established in the IEEE Standards Association. The standard cluster will be committed to building an efficient, secure and scalable data circulation and sharing environment, improving the data industry ecosystem, ensuring credible sharing of data across different domains and regions, and facilitating the development of the AI industry.

The IEEE P1988 standard cluster plan includes several key parts such as data spatial infrastructure framework, overall data circulation framework, privacy protection and trust framework, spatial interaction framework, data governance and data cross-border framework, service and application framework, and industry application framework, aiming to form several international standards. It covers multiple aspects of data collection, storage, processing, circulation and application, safeguards privacy and security in the process of data circulation and sharing through trust mechanisms and privacy protection technologies, unifies data formats and interface protocols, realizes interoperability between different data spaces, meets the needs of different industries and fields, and builds relevant industry application standards. While actively building industrial consensus, the standard will also work with ISO/IEC AWI 20151 and related standards of the National Committee for Digital Standardization to jointly guide enterprises and industries to implement trusted data sharing solutions.

Building AI Infrastructure with “Open Data Space Network”

Looking back at the development of the Internet, from the initial isolated network to the introduction of the TCP/IP protocol to realize interconnection, and then to the popularity of the World Wide Web to promote the explosive growth of information, and now it has become an important support for modern society. Liu Dong believes that the evolution of data space will follow a similar path, from closed data space to interconnection and interaction through standardized data connectors to form an open data space. With the maturity of the authentication mechanism and standardized system, the interconnection of different data spaces will be promoted, and ultimately a worldwide open data space network will be constructed. This network will emphasize subject connectivity and free flow of data, while focusing on the management and efficient and safe use of data, and will become an important infrastructure for the future AI era.

Liu Dong, Director of the CFIEC, at 2025 Shanghai Forum

Liu Dong concluded by emphasizing that the future will be an era of deep synergy between data and AI. Data space, as a key path to break the barriers to data circulation, is gradually moving from theory to practice. And the construction of international standards provides a guarantee for the efficient circulation of global data. Although the path of data circulation and sharing will still face challenges in various aspects such as technology, rules and ideas, with the joint efforts of the industry, the future potential of the data space is unlimited, and the AI industry will also have great potential. The deep synergy between data and AI will become the core engine of the development of the digital economy, providing a powerful impetus for the sustainable development of society and the economy.