(Yicai Global) Aug. 11 -- Shanghai will transform the digital trading hub demonstration area in Lingang New Area, part of the city’s free trade zone, into a data innovation cluster of international influence, the deputy director of the city’s commerce department said.

The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce will support the building of digital trading infrastructure and leverage Lingang’s advantages in digital trading, Zhou Lan said yesterday. The sector was worth USD56.8 billion last year, a 30.8 percent leap from the year before.

The commission will cultivate a number of key business entities in digital trading as well as intellectual properties for digital content which would be well received in overseas markets, Zhou said at a conference on the Lingang New Area’s achievements in data circulation and technology innovation.

More laboratories, research centers and other related facilities will be built at Lingang’s digital trading hub. Ten of the labs will focus on developing new technologies, new industries and new business models. They will promote cross-border data circulation technologies and services, and cultivate leading enterprises.

A Shanghai International Data Hub Development Joint Research Center and a Shanghai International Data Hub Automotive Data Joint Research Center will be built to conduct in-depth research in the data field and promote the integration and development of related industries.

There will also be an International Data Hub Indicator System, which will help Shanghai better monitor New York, London and Singapore and measure the gap with Lingang. “This will enable us to more accurately improve ourselves and promote the local data hub,” said Zhang Qixin, deputy general manager of Shanghai Lingang New Area Cross-Border Data Technology that is developing this system.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor