World Data Organization launches in Beijing to boost data governance

The World Data Organization (WDO) formally established on Monday in Beijing, positioning itself as the first professional international organization focused on advancing global data development and governance practices. 

Headquartered in the Chinese capital, the organization aims to serve as a non-governmental, non-profit platform for dialogue, rule-making and international collaboration. The organization's stated mission is threefold: bridging the data divide, unlocking data's value and powering the digital economy.

In today's world, data has become increasingly central to addressing global challenges such as poverty reduction, public health emergencies, climate change and artificial intelligence development. However, significant disparities remain across countries and regions. 

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, digitally deliverable services accounted for more than 60% of total services exports in advanced economies in 2024, compared with just 44% in developing countries and 15% in least developed countries. Investment in the digital economy is also highly concentrated, with over 80% of projects in developing regions flowing to just a handful of countries, while funding for core digital infrastructure remains far below global needs. These imbalances underscore the challenges of uneven data access, governance capacity and value distribution across the global digital landscape.

Against this backdrop, the WDO's emphasis on "bridging the data divide" is aimed at narrowing gaps in digital capacity, particularly between developed and developing economies, the organization said in a press release.

Its focus on "unlocking data's value" seeks to enable data to better serve global problem-solving, while "powering the digital economy" highlights the goal of ensuring that more countries and communities can benefit from digitalization and intelligent technologies.

China's digital infrastructure has seen rapid advancement. By the end of 2025, China had built over 4.8 million 5G base stations, according to official data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Its total computing power ranked second globally as noted by officials from the country's National Data Administration at a press conference in 2025.

China has signaled its intention to actively participate in the formulation of international rules and standards in the data domain. Officials noted in the same release that platforms such as the UN and the WDO will serve as important channels for contributing to global governance frameworks and addressing what has been described as a growing "digital governance deficit."

At the same time, China has emphasized the importance of promoting global data development and cooperation, facilitating the secure and orderly cross-border flow of data, especially helping countries in the Global South to enhance their data governance capacity. The goal, it said, is to support the building of an open, fair and inclusive global data governance system.

China has also underscored the need to safeguard each country's right to data development, encouraging nations to explore governance models suited to their own conditions while ensuring data security, personal privacy and the legitimate interests of enterprises.

It is expected that by 2030, the WDO will become an internationally influential platform and a trusted hub in the data field.