On June 16, the 2023 Beijing International Publishing Forum was held at China National Convention Center. Chang Bo, President of China Publishing Group, Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) at the Department of Culture and Tourism, and Pang Lijuan, Vice Chairwoman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, attended the Forum and gave opening remarks. Wu Shulin, President of the Publishers Association of China, delivered the keynote speech. Wang Fang, Secretary of the CPC Committee of FLTRP Group, Chair of the Board of FLTRP Group, President of FLTRP, was invited to give a keynote address titled “FLTRP Data Governance Roadmap” under the topic of “the Present and the Future”.
In her address, Ms. Wang Fang emphasized the importance of data governance in the digital development of the publishing industry. Using FLTRP as an example, she elaborated on how data governance is implemented in four aspects: product development, business ecology, corporate governance and organizational capabilities. She stated that FLTRP's digitalization is a symbiotic integration of online and offline platforms, which mutually empower each other. FLTRP’s digitalization strategy focuses majorly on the idea “to digitize as much as possible, and to integrate print and digital materials”, which is realized and supported by two key platforms, ULearn and Unipus Cloud. It has also developed its own writing engines, speech assessment engines, translation engines and the AIGC platform, forming an integrated online and offline foreign language teaching ecosystem. She highlighted that through a systematic integration of digital content, products and platforms, FLTRP has achieved data interoperability both inside and outside the classroom. This has led to quantifiable user learning data metrics and made user demands "clearly visible." Leveraging FLTRP's self-developed foreign language learning knowledge graphs and learning strategy algorithms, FLTRP customizes the most suitable content and services based on individual needs, creating a teaching ecosystem that aligns with learners' abilities.
Ms. Wang Fang also emphasized that data governance helps companies understand themselves better. Data governance provides powerful support for internal management at FLTRP, enabling management team to have real-time insights into business, achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and ultimately build stronger core competitiveness.
In conclusion, Ms. Wang Fang quoted Victor Mayer-Schönberger, the author of Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, saying," though data is rarely recorded on corporate balance sheets, this is probably just a question of time". This quote further highlights the necessity and urgency of digital development. She stated that in order to keep in pace with the times, it is essential to take a future-oriented perspective and persist in driving user-centered and data-driven digital transformation.
The Beijing International Publishing Forum, successfully held for 19 sessions, is the most prestigious international publishing conference of the Beijing International Book Fair. It serves as an important platform for connecting Chinese and foreign publishers, facilitating international exchanges and cooperation in the publishing industry. This year's summit is the first offline conference held in China after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the theme of "Collaboration for Development in Global Publishing Industry", the forum focuses on two major topics: "Development and Cooperation" and "The Present and the Future". It invites Chinese and foreign publishers to discuss strategic planning, forward-looking research, exemplary collaborations, and impactful achievements in the publishing industry, with an international perspective. Ten speakers, including Jeremy North, Managing Director of Advanced Learning, Taylor & Francis, Ben Ashcroft, Vice President of Commercial for De Gruyter, etc, delivered outstanding speeches on the forum.
