(Yicai Global) Aug. 13 -- Shenzhen's local government will recruit a chief digital officer for the first time to accelerate digital transformation in the increasingly intelligent municipality.

The CDO will work for the city government, four districts, and eight government agencies, including the public security bureau, the municipality said in a document recently.

The move was expected. Southern China's Guangdong province said last April that it will experiment with having a CDO in 10 cities, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

The appointment may involve a familiar name. Shenzhen's deputy mayor, deputy district mayor, or deputy director of a department in charge of digital governance should serve as a CDO, according to the city that is home to Tencent Holdings, Huawei Technologies, and Ping An Insurance Group.

Data-Sharing Barriers

The most difficult part of building a smart city is breaking barriers between government agencies, data expert Li Keshun told Yicai Global. These bureaus have no one responsible for data sharing and thus officials have been unwilling to share information, Li added.

The CDO pilot aims to solve this problem and advance the construction of smart cities while promoting the digital economy, said Li.

The demand is pressing. The rapid development of the internet, fifth-generation wireless networks, and artificial intelligence has enabled data to become more valuable in infrastructure, another data expert who wished to remain anonymous said to Yicai Global.

Smart City

Shenzhen is taking the lead in building a smart urban hub in China, and therefore is forming the new position, the anonymous source added.

"This is an important move in line with international data policies and data security systems,” Han Haiting, a public governance expert at the Internet Society of China, said to Yicai Global.

The CDO should be able to coordinate between different agencies and have knowledge of certain technologies, said Han. The person should possess an in-depth understanding of international conventions, laws and regulations, as well as technical data governance tools, the expert added.

Shenzhen calls for government agencies to introduce special talents, including civil servants, to assist the upcoming CDO, according to the document.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi