Seminar on ‘promoting project of channeling computing resources from the eastern areas to the less developed western regions’ was held in SIC on Jan 11, 2023. Sun Wei, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Innovation and High-tech Development, NDRC chaired the seminar and Liu Yunan, President of SIC attended. Yu Shiyang, Director-General of Big Data Development Dept., SIC made the keynote speech. Attendants also included the academician from Chinese Academy of Engineering, experts from Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication and business representatives.  

Experts said computing network is the new information infrastructure and also productivity layout in the times of digital economy. Facing goals of building China into a digital and network power and also a smart society, we need to make a forward-looking and systematic planning to build a national and multi-layers computing network as a new driving force for network development in the new era. Program of channeling computing resources from the eastern areas to less developed western regions will be taken as the first step to make computing resources as the fundamental infrastructure. By following the principle of optimal performance with balanced comprehensive costs as the way to develop computing industry, we will construct computing networks for cities and business sectors with lower costs and thresholds so that it can be used as convenient as electricity powered by hydro resources. Business representatives proposed suggestions in respect of necessity, technical innovation, ecology cultivation, business models and network security.

Liu Yunan said SIC would follow instructions from the Department of Innovation and High-tech Development to take this seminar as the beginning for strengthening policy research in national computing networks on the basis of intensive study and learning from the strengths of others. By doing this, it will become a new model for high quality development of digital economy, and a new approach to the digital foundation for Chinese path to modernization.

Sun Wei said, national computing resources have been gradually optimized with the progress of ‘channeling computing resources from the east to the west’. This program has become a strategic flagship for promoting high quality development of new infrastructure, optimizing allocation of national computing resources, and assisting the digital economy in  stronger, better, and bigger development. For the next step, the program should be push forward in multiple dimensions to build a national integrated system of computing networks to consolidate foundation for developing digital economy and build up national competitive advantages in science and technology.

Staff from NDRC, Innovation Development Center of NDRC and Dept. of Big Data Development participated the seminar.