WeGO strengthens partnerships at key events in Hong Kong
January 23, 2019
HONG KONG – WeGO took part in a series of events and meetings with strategic partners in Hong Kong, during the city’s Connected Cities Conference.
The annual event organized by KPMG showcased innovations for the next generation of city living and examples of smart city technologies from around the world. With a diverse audience of stakeholders from over 25 countries, WeGO promoted its smart city network with a kiosk in the exhibition area. Secretary General Kyong-yul Lee also delivered a keynote speech and served as panelist in a discussion on smart cities in Asia-Pacific, where he presented on the concept and functions of smart cities. In his comments, Mr. Lee stressed the importance of happiness and the need for citizen-centric policies, and introduced examples from WeGO’s President City of Seoul.
WeGO further took the opportunity to promote the launch of KPMG’s newly released report, “Connected Cities: Citizen Insights across Asia-Pacific 2019 Survey,” which contains cases of best practice from its members including Seoul, Jakarta, Makati, and Helsinki, as well as WeGO’s viewpoint on pathways to success in smart city development initiatives.
As part of the conference, WeGO also co-organized a workshop with FIWARE, an independent association of mostly European companies committed to developing an open source platform for smart city solutions. The workshop focused on the impact of open governance and open innovation to smart cities, and was an opportunity for policymakers to understand the benefits of open governance principles. Over 30 participants took part in the workshop, including the CIO of Hong Kong and stakeholders from Europe and Japan.
On the sidelines of the events, WeGO held meetings with key officials from Hong Kong, including the Smart Cities Consortium (SCC) and Hong Kong Trade Development Council, among others.
Over the coming year, WeGO plans to continue its support for the city at its Internet Economy Summit and Belt & Road Summit 2019.