The Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games Organising Committee announced a Prestige-level partnership agreement with Alibaba Group on Tuesday, in the sponsorship categories for information technology, cloud services and fintech services.
The two parties said they would create the first-ever “smart” sports event in the region.
Alibaba’s cloud data technology will be used for Hangzhou 2022’s core IT systems, including competition results, event management, and support systems.
Alibaba’s payments systems brand Alipay will provide blockchain-based payments technology for 18 aspects of the Games, including accommodation, transport, ticketing and catering. Alipay will also provide mobile payment services throughout Hangzhou 2022, covering 90 Asian Games venues in the six host cities – Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing and Deqing; and four cross-border ports – Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Urumqi. Athletes, staff, media and guests will be able to pay for products and services at the Games using their mobiles.
Hangzhou 2022 has also launched an e-commerce store on Alibaba’s business-to-consumer online marketplace Tmall. It is the first-ever licensed retail store for the Asian Games, and will sell licensed products such as badges, stationery and stamps. Alibaba’s other e-commerce platforms, including Taobao, Lazada, AliExpress and alibaba.com will also provide support to the Hangzhou e-commerce store under the partnership.
Alibaba group executive chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang said in a statement: “As a company born in Hangzhou, Alibaba Group is proud to support Hangzhou 2022 as its official partner.
“We will empower the games with world-class technology and consumer services from across the Alibaba Digital Economy, together with our ongoing green initiatives, to bring about an innovative and memorable event experience.”
The sponsorship structure for Hangzhou 2022 consists of three levels: Official Prestige Partner, Official Sponsor and Official Supplier. The Hangzhou Asian Games has now signed five Official Prestige Partners: Geely Automobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Mobile, China Telecom and Loong Airlines.
The 2022 Asian Games is the 19th edition of the event, and will take place on September 10-25.
