Liaoning Province has released a three-year action plan to foster the innovative development of its data annotation sector, targeting significant growth in industry scale and workforce by the end of 2028.
The plan, titled the "Action Plan for Promoting the Innovative Development of the Data Annotation Industry and Accelerating the Construction of High-Quality Datasets in Liaoning Province (2026-2028)," outlines the province's strategic direction for the industry. A key objective is to establish approximately five provincial-level data annotation bases, employ over 30,000 workers in the field, and strive for an industry scale exceeding 80 billion yuan by the target year.
Core Role of Data Annotation
The data annotation industry involves processing data through tasks like screening, cleaning, classification, annotation, labeling, and quality inspection. It is a critical link in the artificial intelligence (AI) industrial chain, serving as a bridge between data resources, algorithm models, and real-world application scenarios. By providing training samples for areas such as autonomous driving and medical imaging, it is considered the "cornerstone" of AI development.
Strategic Framework and Goals
The action plan focuses on promoting high-quality development of the data annotation industry, guided by practical application scenarios. It coordinates efforts across six dimensions: optimizing industrial layout, enhancing data supply, cultivating market entities, fostering annotation technology innovation, building high-quality datasets, and improving the industrial ecosystem. The plan systematically deploys 33 key tasks to mutually reinforce the construction of industry-specific high-quality datasets and the broader "AI+" initiative, thereby strengthening the data foundation for AI innovation.
By the end of 2028, the province aims to establish a data annotation industry layout primarily driven by the dual cores of Shenyang and Dalian, with coordinated development across the entire region. The goals include building about 500 high-quality datasets covering key industries, releasing no fewer than 100 industry-specific data annotation scenarios and 800 data products from corporate demand, attracting around five leading enterprises, and nurturing more than 20 specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises, unicorns, or gazelle companies. The plan also targets introducing and cultivating over 150 data annotation firms.
On the technological front, the province intends to make breakthroughs in a batch of key data annotation technologies, establish no fewer than 10 innovation platforms, and develop at least 20 data annotation tools.
Recent Progress and Future Implementation
In recent years, leveraging the construction of a national-level data annotation base in Shenyang, the province has implemented measures such as strengthening financial support, conducting counterpart cooperation, attracting key enterprises, and creating exemplary cases to propel the industry's growth. This has led to continuous breakthroughs in technological innovation, the initial formation of industry datasets, accelerated clustering of related enterprises, and steady expansion of the overall industry scale.
Provincial authorities have stated they will fully implement the action plan. This includes selecting provincial-level data annotation industry bases, promoting the construction of the first batch of high-quality datasets in key fields, establishing a data annotation对接 platform, cultivating a cohort of data enterprises, and enhancing data supply capacity. These efforts are designed to inject momentum into the "AI+" initiative and foster the high-quality development of Liaoning's digital economy.
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