BEIJING, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia's fastest growing co-working space, Ucommune, has announced the establishment of its first blockchain research lab, with an inauguration ceremony held in Beijing today. This marks the brand's official foray into the blockchain sector, making the event first of its kind in the coworking industry.
In support of central Chinese government's drive towards blockchain adoption and digital economy, Ucommune is initiating a blockchain platform for its community members to build their blockchain solutions upon. In addition, they will also be creating innovative blockchain solutions for co-working spaces on the blockchain platform.
"Our foray into blockchain reflects Ucommune's commitment in providing decentralised and trusted services to our growing and diversifying community member base. The new lab will conduct in-depth research on blockchain application for coworking and develop a whitepaper that sets the industry benchmark. We are also leveraging blockchain for custom-made solutions to better serve our millennials members," says Mr. Ma Zhiyu, Director of the Ucommune Blockchain Lab.
Mr. Ma amasses decades of experiences in IT software developments. Since 2017, Mr. Ma started to get involved in blockchain and has mentored several young entrepreneurs in the field. In addition, he is interested in the application of blockchain to areas such as healthcare, big data, blockchain sourcing, sport gaming, celebrity IP and copyright training applications and has founded a blockchain lab named Astar.
Partnering Mr. Ma would be Ucommune's CTO, Mr. Xu Binchao, on the blockchain development. Mr. Xu has over 15 years of experience technology development. He specializes in product design and application of new technology. He has led various team to design and operationalize various internet businesses. In addition, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge in search engine optimisation and development. Mr. Xu is optimistic about creating a blockchain-enabled coworking eco-system.
"Ucommune Blockchain Lab aims to enable and empower a trust-based virtual network that helps businesses of varied sizes to collaborate, source and trade efficiently and transparently. Drawing on our technological know-how and expertise, we are on track to connect enterprises across the entire value chain to form a smart contract platform that all member companies can build their sub-chains upon," said Mr. Xu.
Supporting both technical leads would be Mr. Josh Zhang. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Partner of Ucommune, overseeing strategic planning, government relations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and innovation programs of the company. Mr. Zhang will provide the business strategy to ensure the commercial viability of the project.
"Blockchain is a dynamic technology with several commercial use cases. Given the wide array of choices available, Ucommune will conduct our due diligence to discover the requirements, price points and preferences of our clients. This will inform our blockchain product development strategy and also customize the platform to suit other entrepreneurs," said Mr. Zhang.
Prior to joining Ucommune, Mr. Zhang was the director of APEC China Business Council, an arm of APEC. During his tenure as an aide to Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba, Mr. Zhang was in charge of the Group's external affairs and was the main driver behind the company's partnership with countries in the Asia Pacific region. An early pioneer in China's technology incubation industry, he was awarded the 'Global Shaper' prize by the World Economic Forum. He also mentored start-ups at the Technology Center of Peking University.
Quest of community expansion
With the merger of Woo Space, Wedo, New Space and Workingdom earlier this year, Ucommune has undoubtedly cemented its leadership position in China. Boasting presence in 160 locations from 36 cities globally, Ucommune connect 120,000 individual members and 7000 corporate members with a total space of 400,000 square metres.
In the earlier part of the year, Ucommune has launched its proprietary application UBazaar. It aggregates local suppliers, services and merchants which simplified various transactions. The UBazaar mobile app has so far achieved over 500,000 downloads, 100,000 active users in 160 communities.
"As we celebrate the third anniversary of Ucommune, I am proud to see that we have built a strong platform that empowers entrepreneurs with equal opportunities. We have provided the space for 150 enterprises with over 20 million users. We are committed to unleash the potential of co-working spaces globally through incorporating cutting-edge technology such as blockchain," said Dr. Mao Daqing, founder and Chairman of Ucommune at the World INS Conference, a proprietary event of Ucommune held in the City of Xi An last week.
For further information please contact:
Helena Ma
Email: helena.ma@ideacommunication.co
