JD.com Sets Up Institute For Creating Blockchain, AI-Backed Smart Cities

A subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, JD Finance, has setup the Smart City Research Institute at its head office in Nanjing, according to news outlet People’s Daily September 28. Chinese e-commerce firm Jingdong Group (JD.com) concentrates on latest technological execution in e-commerce, finance and logistics.

With the newly established Institute, JD.com intends to facilitate the advancement of “smart city” building with the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technologies and big data. The firm’s preliminary regional headquarters in Nanjing will persuade “the entire East China region” and plans to minimize industry expenses and enhance productivity.

The report states that the company priorities are:
“Advanced Intelligent solutions in the areas of urban environment, transportation, planning, energy consumption, commerce, security, healthcare, credit cities and e-government.”

JD.com has implemented blockchain technology in diverse attributes of its operations, from logistics and supply network, to distributing blockchain asset-backed securities. Earlier last month, JD.com uncovered its latest Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform.

The novel tool, christened JD Blockchain Open Platform, will supposedly empower businesses to create, host and put into operation blockchain solutions without a need to build the expertise from scratch.

Last month, a Chinese multinational with interests in insurance, financial services and banking, and one of the world’s biggest insurance company groups, Ping An Insurance, published a “White Paper on Smart Cities,” which intends to “help the government to create a new model of ‘city as a service’ governance.”