Jinan has once again been recognized on the national stage for its leadership in digital innovation. On August 28, at the 2025 China International Big Data Industry Expo, the National Data Administration announced the second batch of pilot programs for advancing the country’s data infrastructure. Jinan was named among the 34 pilot cities and became one of the 28 cities to officially “light up” as a national data infrastructure node.
As a national-level pilot, Jinan will play a pivotal role in exploring models for data sharing, interconnectivity, and security standards. The initiative aims to address common challenges such as the difficulty of accessing and using data across regions, barriers to large-scale circulation, and issues with secure data processing. By testing technologies, standards, and mechanisms, the pilot projects are expected to generate scalable experiences for replication nationwide.
According to the Jinan Municipal Bureau of Big Data, the city’s new status will enable “one-point access, nationwide connectivity,” allowing data to be published once and made visible across regions, while applications deployed in Jinan can be seamlessly adopted elsewhere. Local enterprises have already joined the effort: Inspur Cloud and Sensing Electronics are now connected to the national infrastructure, with Inspur completing its first interoperability test. Inspur’s “Four-Dimensional Coordination for a New Infrastructure Standard” project was recognized as a national best practice, while Beifang Health and Yunding Technology also had sector-specific projects selected in healthcare and smart energy.
Jinan has laid strong foundations for this achievement. The city is home to more than 4,200 data-driven enterprises, including over 1,200 leading firms. It has rolled out comprehensive reforms for the data factor market, issued incentive policies, and established Jinan Big Data Group to drive its “4+N” industrial cluster strategy. Since 2019, Jinan has built an integrated big data platform and launched its “Data Lake,” while pioneering the “Quancheng Chain,” a blockchain-based trusted data exchange model already adopted by 30 commercial banks. These innovations have enabled applications such as credit authorization for small and micro enterprises, boosting precision loans worth nearly 90 billion yuan, cutting bus waiting times, and improving public service efficiency.
Looking ahead, Jinan will strictly follow national pilot guidelines, adhering to the “three unifications” (standardized cataloging, identity registration, and interface requirements) while ensuring market-driven, lawful, and secure operations. The city plans to advance infrastructure upgrades, experiment with cutting-edge technologies such as data networking and blockchain, and create benchmark application scenarios across 12 key industries.
A dedicated roadmap—dubbed the “1111N model”—will guide the effort: one data infrastructure base powered by privacy computing and blockchain security; one trusted data space service platform following national standards; one data factor circulation and utilization system with 11 service centers; one standards framework covering compliance and technology; and multiple application scenarios demonstrating digital transformation in diverse sectors.
This recognition follows Jinan’s broader push to enhance its digital ecosystem. The city has already built 40 data centers, deployed over 54,000 5G base stations, and achieved a total computing power capacity of 4,500P, with plans to expand to 5,000P. It has ranked eighth nationwide in digital ecology and second among sub-provincial cities for public data openness.
By serving as a national pilot, Jinan is positioning itself as a model for digital infrastructure development in China. Through innovation, connectivity, and a robust data economy, the city is set to accelerate its transformation into a hub of the national digital economy and contribute the “Jinan solution” to China’s data-driven future.