Tracking the country's new economy

The BBD index is using advanced big data to build global knowledge and economic management

The world is watching China with great interest, and no little concern, as this great industrial nation embraces the next phase in economic and social development.

The Chinese economy is the second largest in the world and will become the largest in due course. China is already the world's largest trading nation. The great strength of its industrial position has been built on leadership in manufacturing, mining and energy sectors.

Now, as we all experience the influence of modern communications technology, the internet in particular, and as social media and big data become so important in our lives, the Chinese economy is in transition toward a new balance, where service industries will become more important and the domestic economy will become more important compared with the historic reliance on exports.

Innovation and new technology will play significant parts as the transition accelerates. Already, the manufacturing share of China's measured economy has reduced from more than 50 percent to less than 40 percent, while the service sector has developed consistently from less than 40 percent to stand now at more than 50 percent.

But the new economy - made up of companies of diverse nature - is not easily measured in terms of its progress or the performance of the companies occupying the service sector. The speed and effectiveness of the transition of the Chinese economy to a new and stable status is not easily tracked, either.

The world has moved rapidly to a world of big data - the powerful computers and mobile devices that populate the world today can generate masses of data. But data is not information in its raw form, and a big data and financial technology industry has emerged rapidly to seek to make proper sense of the data and provide useful and usable information for governments, companies and other organizations to use in effectively understanding and managing economies, companies and, indeed, people's lives.

Big data has become big business. Many companies - more every day - populate the fintech sector in great centers of financial management and investment, such as London. A new industry has indeed arrived and is here to stay.

Among all the progress going on around us, it is heartening indeed to see a highly innovative Chinese company taking a clear lead with technology development and application. Business Big Data, a company based in Chengdu, is fast developing a global network that provides governments and businesses with cutting-edge commercial data services enabling improved decision making using big data across worldwide business functions.

BBD is playing a particularly important part in enabling deep and transparent analytics to qualify company data, which will be especially important in tracking new economy companies.

The new economy index recently introduced by BBD as part of the launch of its activities in the United Kingdom has been widely acclaimed as an important breakthrough, and it has special relevance to the tracking and measurement of the Chinese economy from old to new. But it has far wider implications for those seeking to measure the performance and effectiveness of new-economy companies and for those considering investments.

As a businessman working around the world, I am very excited to see BBD extend its activities globally - and particularly happy to see a its operation in the heart of London's fintech sector.

For those with sufficient knowledge of information technology, software and the latest technological developments in data handling, the discussion has shifted from big data to metadata. More sophisticated ways of turning raw data into useful and useable information are becoming available. It was fascinating to spend time recently with the BBD team, including Senior Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer George Yuan and Chief Scientist Tao Zhou. Both are PhDs and both are at the leading edge of the accelerating metadata revolution.

Tao's work on developing and testing extremely sophisticated science-based algorithms has been highlighted in many publications, such as Nature News, MIT Technology Review and Harvard Business Review. His translation of the book Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live and Work has been widely read in China. Meanwhile, Yuan's research, developments and experience in the use of data in international financial management and understanding is acknowledged within the global financial sector.

And there is much more exceptional PhD talent on the BBD team. While its focus today is rightly and primarily on the financial sector and enabling enhanced economic and business management in the developing new economy, I have the impression that the company may also have the capability to make significant contributions to big data/metadata developments, serving other key areas of modern life where technology now enables information to be generated at speeds and in volumes not even anticipated a few years ago; for example, in genetics and genomics, where next-generation DNA sequencing can produce data at rates exceeding our ability to handle it effectively and meaningfully.

In a world where artificial intelligence and machine learning are racing ahead alongside developments in robotics and genetics, and where technologies converge and collide more than ever before, my sense as an observer is that BBD is an organization capable of helping to change that world to good effect.

Opportunities, dilemmas

For the time being, global economics, finance, financial and risk management represent sufficient challenges for this young company. I recall the comments at a recent London seminar of Shen Minggao, an eminent economist with a track record at Peking University, Stanford, with Chinese government organizations and as chief economist for Citibank China. "As China continues the transformation from old to new economy, the BBD new economy index will offer significant support to governments, companies and investors," he said.

Companies such as BBD are already working with government agencies and academic centers to grapple with the dilemmas and difficulties of data ownership, data sharing, open data, and aspects of privacy and confidentiality.

Metadata and big data are working in new territory. Organizations such as the Open Data Society are seeking to guide practitioners toward definitions of best practice and adherence to common standards. As with all new technology areas, this is difficult on a global scale.

It was very interesting for me to meet Gao Jinkang, dean of the Law School at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu and hear of the dedicated work he and his team are doing in the field of big data standards and regulation. Since the BBD head office is in Chengdu, we can be encouraged to believe that constructive and innovative approaches will emerge and that international collaboration will be encouraged.

In conclusion, working beside the young executive team at BBD, it is clear to see why they speak enthusiastically about their acronym standing not only for Business Big Data, but also building big dreams. In today's world, dreams can become reality very quickly indeed.

The author is a professor and entrepreneur in residence at the Judge Business School in Cambridge University. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.