JD Smart to build smart eco-system

Wang Zhenhui, president of JD Smart, delivers keynote speech on October 21, 2015 during the company's smart eco-system strategy launch event held in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The number of smart hardware start-ups is growing rapidly as "popular entrepreneurship and mass innovation" is encouraged by the government.

JD Smart, a smart hardware eco-system provider backed by Chinese e-commerce behemoth JD.com, has elaborated on its business strategy in establishing a closed-loop industrial chain for start-ups, investors and early adopters.

Wang Zhenhui, president of JD Smart, said the company's plan is to connect humans, smart devices and services. "Thanks to the business to consumers (B2C) platform JD.com, JD Smart will provide an incubator-like project, JD Plus and smartphone application named Weilian, to build the interaction between entrepreneurs and product users, and bring the smart living experience to customers," he said.

JD's senior vice-president Zhangchen pointed out that based on analysis of JD's Big Data technology, JD Smart will help start-ups by finding target consumers.

The latest version of Weilian, an app that can connect more than 1,000 smart devices in 42 categories, including home appliances, kitchen electronics, wearable devices and automotive accessories, made its debut during the event.

By using the app, the company aims to establish an entrance level product for customers based on the firm's Internet of Things strategy.

JD Laidian, hardware designed for "one click" online shopping was also launched.

The company further announced its JD Plus project, a smart hardware incubation platform built for start-ups in helping with investment, industrial design, marketing, supply chain and data.

The company will jointly work with Tencent-backed incubator -- zc.open.qq.com -- to support 10 smart hardware projects every year.

Representatives from business partners of JD Smart, including Tencent Holdings Limited, Midea Group, Marvell Technology Group, Foxconn Technology Group, Qualcomm Inc and New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc, also attended the event.