Smart applications have been widely used during the ongoing 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, as organizers hope to usher in a “new era” of smart technology through the Games.

Axar.az reports citing Reuters.

At the lobby of the scientific museum in Gangneung, one of the Games’ host cities, a Chinese-developed smart planning application known as Smart Pass offers visitors more convenient access to the Olympics.

Reporters and spectators can have a better overall understanding of the Games after registering on the application, and can easily get information on scheduling, find hotels nearby the venues, and obtain electronic tickets all on their smart phone, without the need to carry a separate map, guidebook or admission ticket.

According to Qi Yue, manager of the Smart Pass project, the research company hopes to further upgrade the technology at the Beijing Winter Olympics in four years time.

“We will offer the product to the [2022] Winter Olympics organizing committee as one of the science and technology gifts for the Olympics. And we’re keeping in close touch with the committee to talk about their needs and our plan about improvements to the product,” Qi said.

He added, “Today marks full four-year countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, so we have a lot of work to do. [The 2022 Winter Olympics] is certain to be more convenient and scientific, and allow spectators to have more fun in watching the Games.”

The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, said at a workshop on Saturday that the IOC is glad to work with the world’s internet giants to integrate state-of-the-art technologies into the Olympic spirit.

“In this way, to catch the light of a new era, the light of digitalization, and there we can already see great progress being made in particular with the cooperation with the Olympic Channel where we have laid the groundwork for the future partnership,” said Bach.

Jack Ma, the founder and Executive Chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba agreed with Bach's vision, saying he hopes his company’s participation will help transform the Olympic Games and get more young people involved in the associated sports events.