With the advancement of a new round of technological revolution and economic transformation and upgrading, the cultivation of new quality productive forces has become key to promoting high-quality economic development. This study explores how data elements enable the emergence of new quality productive forces and analyzes its mechanism. Using data from 31 provinces in China and combining the fsQCA method, this study conducts a configurational analysis of six factors: innovation productivity, digital economy development level, scale of technology-based enterprises, data elementization level, policy environment, and technology introduction capability. The results show that no single factor is a necessary condition for the emergence of new quality productive forces; instead, its emergence is a complex process driven by multiple factors, primarily including the combination of digital economy development and technology introduction capability, as well as the combination of data elementization level and scale of technology-based enterprises. This study not only enriches the theoretical system of new quality productive forces but also provides practical guidance for government decision-making and enterprise strategy formulation. It has significant implications for deepening the understanding of the digital economy and promoting regional economic transformation and upgrading.