When a sinkhole appeared on a busy road in Hangzhou， the idyllic city in Zhejiang Province in east China that hosted the Group of 20 Summit in 2016， the first responder was not a person but an intelligent system.
　　Hangzhou’s City Brain platform was the fi rst to be galvanized into action， triggering an emergency response system that saw on-site monitoring videos rush data and images to relevant government departments. It also drew up a prompt evacuation zone covering nearby buildings with over 700 families， issued an evacuation order， and sent details such as the addresses of senior citizens and the disabled in the zone to social workers so that they could be there to offer specifi c help.
　　All of this was done in just 10 minutes， which left ample time for rescue operations and prevented casualties.
　　It is no wonder that Hangzhou would have such a futuristic system for administration， considering that it is home to tech giant Alibaba. Wang Jian， chief architect of the project， calls it Hangzhou’s “digital cockpit.”
　　It is an extensive neural network run on artificial intelligence （AI）. A massive volume of data—including traffic details， information on water and gas supplies， and weather changes—and much more is interconnected and relayed to administrative departments and individuals for smart decision-making.
　　For example， while the City Brain conveyed the details of the sinkhole to the government departments concerned， it also sent them to residents through their mobile phones， warning them to stay away from the area or evacuate if they were already there.

Rapid progress

　　The Hangzhou initiative illustrates how administrative reform and a new round of technological revolution are being integrated for smart development.
　　China is pushing for the modernization of its system and capacity for governance. Sophisticated technologies such as big data， cloud computing and AI are being utilized for social and economic development， changing the way of production， operation as well as governance.
　　This is the era of e-governance.“Digitalization is a major solution for the modernization of governance，” Wang Yukai， a member of the Advisory Committee for State Informatization， said at a forum in Beijing in November. “Data has become a new energy for economic development， as important as coal， electricity， oil and gas.” 　　Local governments are exploring their own ways of integrating modern information technology （IT） with innovative services and governance. Consequently， multiple models of e-governance have been created.
　　For instance， Zhejiang has launched several mobile applications through which people can access services such as booking appointments with doctors at public hospitals or paying for their children’s tuitions. According to the Zhejiang Big Data Development and Management Bureau established last year， more than 40 percent of government services are available online.
　　Zhejiang exemplifies Internet Plus public service， one of the three typical e-governance models in China at present， Wang Yimin， Director of the E-Governance Research Center， Chinese Academy of Governance， told business weekly Caijing.
　　The second is the digitalization of administrative procedures. In the central province of Hubei， data sharing through digitalization ensures coordination between departments. As a result， each department has the necessary data at its fingertips instead of having to pore over musty paper fi les.
　　The third is the data-driven model. The southwestern province of Guizhou provides an example with its National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone， which facilitates big data sharing， innovation and security.
　　By the end of 2020， the plan is to establish a coordinated system of e-governance that will not only cover individual administrative regions across the country， but also connect them together， laying a solid foundation for the modernization of governance.

Source of support

　　Technological support has a big part in this ambitious plan.
　　“Provinces that have performed well in digital transformation have one thing in common： They are home to giant tech companies，”Li Xiaobo， a researcher with the Research Center of Big Data Industry， China Center for Information Industry Development Consulting， said. “It is important to have one to two such companies， at least in the preliminary phase， to cooperate with the governments so as to strengthen their e-governance capacity.”
　　In Zhejiang， the government collaborates with Alibaba and Foxconn； Guangzhou， an industrial hub in the southern province of Guangdong， benefits from the presence of Tencent and Huawei； while in Shandong Province， the birthplace of Confucius in east China， Inspur， one of the largest suppliers of IT equipment in the world， has made a name for itself in big data and cloud computing.

　　According to a recent report by the Tencent Research Institute， in 2018， cloud computing became the new pet of government organs， with its application in government affairs increasing 404.7 percent year on year.
　　Government affairs have become the biggest cake for cloud computing service providers as there is a transformation from consumeroriented to industry-oriented Internet.
　　Last year， Aliyun， a subsidiary of Alibaba focusing on cloud computing， won the bid for a city brain project in Hainan Province in south China， worth 455 million yuan （$64.6 million）； Tencent Cloud secured a similar project in Changsha in the central province of Hunan， valued at 520 million yuan （$73.8 million）； while Huawei bagged a 2.74-billion-yuan （$389 million） project in Dongguan， Guangdong， in September. The fi gures show the huge potential in the fi eld.
　　According to market intelligence provider International Data Corp.， global public cloud services and infrastructure expenditure will reach$210 billion this year， with China being the second largest market after the U.S. By 2022， spending on services alone will hit $370 billion in the world.
　　Eyeing the huge potential， enterprises are reforming their products and industrial landscapes. Huawei set up a new department specifically for e-governance services in 2018 and changed its role from selling equipment to providing overall solutions. Several of Alibaba’s business units， including Alipay， an online payment platform， and Amap， a digital mapping and navigation platform， are all involved in egovernance projects.
　　Liu Song， head of the Aliyun Research Institute， told Caijing that the ultimate mission of Alibaba’s digital city project is to enable residents to engage in government affairs online just like shopping on Taobao， the online marketplace of Alibaba.

Challenges ahead

　　The huge data involved and the high speed of development also mean challenges in the digital transformation.
　　Security is a major concern. Government data is an invaluable public resource containing a large amount of people’s personal information. Preventing their theft requires huge capital and technological inputs and calls for societywide efforts.
　　“The city management has to develop effective methods for supervision， which includes the fl ow of data， visitors and service providers，”Jin Zhipeng， head of the Zhejiang Big Data Development and Management Bureau， said.
　　Wang’s suggestion is that the top-level architecture should be strengthened to solve the diffi culties in data sharing and coordination. Besides， it is important to make the most of the big data management institutions.
　　And finally， data should be used properly for government decisions， to predict demands so that appropriate policies can be drawn up and plans drafted， which is the core objective of e-governance.