Jinan and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology sign an agreement on blockchain cooperation on April 19. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, was selected as a member of a national blockchain project known as the Xinghuo network at the first Summit of National Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Application Pilot Zone on April 19.

The project is mainly supported by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and will help the city promote blockchain networks, smart city development, and e-government services. Jinan is the 10th city in China to join in the project.

The project will play an important role in promoting industrial internet development in Jinan, said Luo Song, deputy director of the Institute of Industrial Internet and Internet of Things of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

The Xinghuo network will help connect resources across China via the internet and accelerate smart city development, according to Luo.

Zou Qingzhong, chairman of Inspur Group, delivers a speech at the summit. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As China's leading cloud computing and big data service provider, Inspur Group also joined the project with its Inspur Yunzhou industrial internet platform.

Inspur has been attaching great importance to the development of the industrial internet sector, said Zou Qingzhong at the summit. The Inspur Yunzhou industrial internet platform has been a cross-field platform at the national level for the past three years.

The platform is expected to attract more blockchain resources to Jinan and promote the high-quality development of the digital economy in Shandong province.

The Yunzhou platform has been applied in the fields of equipment manufacturing, machinery manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, clothing, and agricultural machinery.