Amazon adds its weight to smart city plan

Amazon is bringing new blood to Shanghai's "smart city" plan by cooperating with the government to build a new innovation center.

Its Amazon Web Services subsidiary, the city's economy and information commission and the Jing'an government signed a cooperation agreement on Wednesday to build a "Shanghai-Amazon AWS United Innovation Center."

Officials said they will build a "smart city"experience and exhibition center, foster professionals on big data and set up international incubators. They will be located in Jing'an.

"It's great to cooperate with Shanghai, a very promising and profound global city," said Rong Yongkang, an executive with Amazon AWS China. "We hope to use our influence and experience to help Shanghai's smart city plan."

Chen Mingbo, director of Shanghai Economy and Information Commission, said: "The cooperation with Amazon AWS makers is a great step forward."

He added: "Jing'an is perfect to launch this program because it has a big data center and pioneers the country in many projects."