A division of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, JD Finance, has established the Smart City Research Institute at its headquarters in Nanjing, reported People’s Daily September 28.

Jingdong Group (JD.com) is a Chinese e-commerce company that focuses on new technological implementation in e-commerce, logistics, and finance. With the new Institute, JD.com aims to facilitate the development of “smart city” construction with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and blockchain technologies.

The company’s first regional headquarters in Nanjing will influence “the entire East China region” and aims to reduce industry costs and increase efficiency. 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 applied blockchain technology in various aspects of its business, from its logistics and supply chain, to issuing blockchain asset-backed securities.

In August, JD.com revealed its new Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform. The new tool, called JD Blockchain Open Platform, will purportedly enable businesses to build, host and implement blockchain solutions without having to develop the technology from scratch.

Last month, a Chinese conglomerate with operations in insurance, banking, and financial services and one of the world's largest insurance company groups, Ping An Insurance, released a "White Paper on Smart Cities," which aims to “help the government to create a new model of ‘city as a service’ governance.”