World Data Organization (WDO) Shipping and Trade Digitalization Committee Established in Shanghai

On October 30, at the 2026 Global Data Business Conference, the Shipping and Trade Digitalization Professional Committee of the World Data Organization (WDO) was officially established, with Shanghai Data Group serving as the lead initiating unit and chair committee unit, and launched seven business direction working groups: blockchain, shipping services, logistics and cross-border e-commerce, fintech, bulk commodity trade, digital dual carbon, and artificial intelligence. The World Data Organization (WDO) is the world's first professional international organization focused on data development and governance practices, established in Beijing on March 30 this year, and has now gathered more than a hundred members. At a time when the digitalization of global shipping and trade is entering a period of accelerated development, the establishment of the Shipping and Trade Digitalization Professional Committee provides a regular professional platform for dialogue and collaboration among all parties in the shipping and trade field, and is an important lever for WDO to promote the implementation and application of data in key industries. This also marks that in the process of shipping and trade data governance, Shanghai is moving from an "active participant" to a "co-builder." Shipping and trade is an important foundational network for the operation of the global economy and industrial and supply chains, and is also one of the industrial fields with the most intensive cross-regional, cross-entity, and cross-border data flows. Issues such as the orderly flow of cross-border data, cross-border mutual recognition of electronic documents, and carbon footprint accounting are becoming new areas of focus in international data governance, and all parties generally look forward to a multilateral professional platform based on win-win cooperation to promote the alignment and communication of rules and standards, the secure and trustworthy flow of data, and industrial chain collaboration. The reporter learned that the shipping and trade digitalization construction previously led by Shanghai Data Group has connected with relevant systems of multiple national ministries and commissions, and launched more than 200 scenario applications including trade finance; the Shanghai-Hong Kong cross-border chain service covers 11 provinces and municipalities and Hong Kong, and the cross-border infrastructure has entered substantive operation. Shanghai will take the establishment of the professional committee as an opportunity to gather forces from government departments, industry enterprises, research institutions, and international organizations to further enhance research capacity and output capacity in the field of shipping and trade digitalization; and will focus on key areas such as trustworthy cross-border data circulation, international mutual recognition of electronic documents, registration of warehouse receipt and cargo rights for bulk commodities, green and low-carbon accounting, and shipping and trade corpora and high-quality datasets, organizing various working groups to carry out thematic research and lay a solid foundation for business advancement and rule development in each direction. Facing the common task of global shipping and trade data governance, the professional committee will uphold the concept of openness, inclusiveness, and co-construction and sharing, and work continuously with all parties. In terms of rules and standards, it will participate in and promote the exchange and mutual learning of international standards and rules in the shipping and trade field, and promote the connection and transformation of existing practices with international rules; in terms of data circulation, relying on trustworthy data infrastructure, it will explore compliant and orderly cross-border data circulation paths and promote the cross-border mutual recognition of electronic documents such as electronic bills of lading and electronic warehouse receipts; in terms of ecosystem collaboration, it will build a dialogue platform jointly participated in by governments, enterprises, international organizations, and research institutions, share experience in shipping and trade digitalization applications, help narrow the data divide, and promote the secure and orderly flow and value release of shipping and trade data elements. The professional committee will also advance its work in five directions: joint standard building, scenario promotion, technical collaboration, international exchange, and talent training and capacity building, opening up a full-chain closed loop of "joint building of technical standards, trustworthy cross-border data circulation, large-scale implementation of global scenarios, two-way mutual recognition of transnational rules, and multi-level international collaborative cooperation," serving the construction of Shanghai's "Five Centers," promoting the international mutual recognition of cross-border data and electronic documents, and the development of global shipping and trade digital rules, and forming a replicable and promotable "Chinese solution" for shipping and trade digitalization.