The Institute of Chinese Modernization of Nankai University and the Center for Network Society Governance of Nankai University held the 2023 “Nankai Index of Data Enabling Government” Release and Digital and Intelligent Governance Academic Seminar at the Nankai Business School. The 2023 “Nankai Index of Data Enabling Government” was released in collaboration with China Youth Press and the National Engineering Laboratory of Big Data Application Technology for Improving Government Governance Capacity. Yang Kexin, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nankai University, attended the release event and delivered a speech. Professor Wang Fang, Director of the Center for Network Society Governance of Nankai University, released the 2023 “Nankai Index of Data Enabling Government”. Over 200 people from all over the country attended the event, including leaders of government, universities, public institutions and enterprises, as well as experts, scholars and professionals. Professor Bai Changhong, Dean of the Nankai Business School, moderated the opening ceremony. 

According to the briefing,  Nankai University’s “Nankai Index of Data Enabling Government” has been released for five years in a row. The 2023 edition includes four first-level indexes for social governance, public services, support and public engagement, as well as 13 second-level indexes and 38 third-level indexes. The evaluation index system has been updated, with the addition of seven new third-level indexes: social trust level, employment support, talent service support, smart education, informatization industry park, data transaction progress, and city management on an integrated platform. 

According to evaluation indexes, Shanghai and Beijing continued to rank first and second among the 76 cities, respectively. Shenzhen ranked third, compared to the fourth place in the preceding year. Chengdu and Guangzhou ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. The rankings of Wuhan, Suzhou and Jinan improved obviously, while Changsha, Bengbu and Zhuhai rose significantly in the rankings. Xi’an, Qingdao, Ningbo and Yichang rose steadily in the rankings. Nanchang registered the most progress in this year’s ranking, ranking 17th, up by 24 places from the preceding year.

It is learned that Tianjin has ranked among the top 20 in the overall ranking of the “Nankai Index of Data Enabling Government” for five consecutive years. Tianjin ranks first in the country in terms of social governance among the first-level indicators, and ranks among the top three in terms of second-level indicators “Internet governance” and “market regulation”, with scores significantly higher than those of other cities. It is noteworthy that Tianjin’s intelligent question-answering system is one of the very few systems that can actively provide forward-to-manual services, but the system does not perform well in the random question test, which affects its place in the overall ranking. 

An academic seminar on “Digital and Intelligent Governance” was held following the 2023 “Nankai Index of Data Enabling Government” release conference. Professor Jane Fountain of the University of Massachusetts, Professor Fan Bo of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Professor An Xiaomi of Renmin University of China made wonderful reports on algorithmic bias, paradigm of digital governance, the concept and characteristics of digital and intelligent governance, etc. Over 20 experts and scholars conducted in-depth academic discussions on digital government system, digital and intelligence technology, digital transformation, machine-generated content, public disclosure of government data, open government information, smart cities, big data quality assessment, and so on. 

(Edited and translated by Nankai News Team.)