Backtrack

Memorable Events &  Successful Programs of WeGO

#BACKTRACK

Loyal Member & Partners

Partners and Members who co-created WeGO’s history

#WeGOPARTNERS

#WeGOMEMBERS

Testimonials

People who made the Secretariat successful

#WeGOTEAM

In 2010, the Inaugural GA in Seoul announced the foundation of the World e-Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments.
WeGO was launched by 50 founding members from 40 countries to achieve sustainable growth & enhance the quality of citizens’ life through ITC. It featured the Opening Ceremony, Inaugural General Assembly Meeting, Workshop, Exhibition, and Tour under the theme of “e-Sharing for All”.
The GA is a triennial event that convenes all full members to make key decisions that set the strategic direction of WeGO.

WeGO had been offering its members cost-efficient and easy to use e-Government tools to help improve their e-Government Systems.
WeGO eGovFrame: a standardized and open-source software network, with comprehensive support services in partnership with the National Information Society Agency. It had been helping members efficiently create and operate e-Government applications with enhanced software development productivity, component reusability, and interoperability among application systems.
City e-Government Diagnostic and Solution (CeDS) Online Platform: it was created jointly with the World Bank to enable city officials to easily evaluate the status of their city’s e-Government maturity level and conceptualize plans for the future development of their e-Government systems without consulting outside experts.

Since 2011, WeGO and Seoul Human Resource Development Center (SHRDC) have been holding the annual training program for WeGO members focused on Seoul’s best cases in e-Government, IoT, Transportation systems, and other areas.
The first SHRDC’s “Sharing Smart Seoul Strategies” program hosted foreign officials from 16 cities, such as Abuja, Amman, Dhaka North, Guatemala City, Hanoi, Khartoum, Makkah, Muscat, Quito, Ulaanbaatar, Warsaw, White Nile State for a one-week e-Government training program. The program not only shared Seoul’s success in e-Government but also involved capacity building and a practical framework for developing action plans for local e-Government.

WeGO has since its establishment been providing financial support and technical assistance to member cities to facilitate their transformation into smart sustainable cities. Since 2010, WeGO has completed 12 feasibility studies and pilot projects across 11 cities in Africa, Asia, and LATAM.
Formerly branded as the “Smart Sustainable City Feasibility Study Program, or “F/S,” aimed to assess its member cities’ current smart city development status, draw practical strategies and implement pilot projects that align with the local and/or national development goals and plans, in cooperation with the selected consultants. Over 1.3 million USD was invested in the areas of e-Government, traffic monitoring, waste management, smart parking and etc.

The 2nd GA of WeGO was held in Barcelona on the theme of “Smart Government with All”, in line with the Smart City Expo World Congress.
Overall, more than 60 cities and international organizations attended the GA 2012.
Access the reports of the GA 2012.
Access the picture gallery.

Since its establishment in 2010, the WeGO Secretariat has been embedded within Seoul City Hall’s Information Planning Department. The year 2014 marked a dynamic new phase for WeGO, which saw the Secretariat’s move to its own office and recruitment of a core team of dedicated staff members for the revitalized development, implementation, and promotion of WeGO events and activities.
To commemorate this fresh page in WeGO’s history, the “new” Secretariat threw an Opening Ceremony on April 11, 2014, with honored guests from organizations like UNHCR, UNDP, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

The WeGO Asia and Europe Regional Offices officially opened in early 2014 in Chengdu, China (Secretary General: Mr. Charlie Wang) and Ulyanovsk Region, Russia (Secretary General: Ms. Svetlana Openysheva).
The Regional Offices are affiliates of the WeGO Secretariat and help advance the organization’s mission in Asia and Europe. Each Regional Office liaises between the Secretariat and each of the WeGO members in the region where it is located and supports the WeGO Secretariat in securing new members in the region.
In consultation with the WeGO Secretariat, the Regional Office are expected to develop their own programs, such as training programs, educational sessions, and information forums, to promote exchanges of expertise and cooperation among all WeGO members.

WeGO appreciates its long-lasting partnership with the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), the leading global summit for Smart Cities, which is held annually.

In 2012, WeGO organized its General Assembly in Barcelona,  jointly held along with the second edition of the SCEWC.
Back in 2015 and 2016, WeGO put up a pavilion with members Gimpo, Seongnam, and NITDA in the exhibition area, involved them as speakers and participants at vibrant congress sessions, and organized a number of networking meetings.
In 2019, SCEWC and WeGO signed an agreement for a promotional partnership, which allowed a number of WeGO members to attend the open and closed sessions of the SCEWC 2019 and explore the exhibition area.

In 2015, WeGO offered the F/S project on “Civic Participation Systems (CPS)” to its members. As the main beneficiaries, Hanoi (Vietnam) and San Fernando La Union (Philippines) received a six-month consultation on the feasibility of adopting a CPS, with a focus on efficiently collecting and managing citizen’s complaints. Later on, a demo version was developed and delivered to the beneficiaries.

Three additional WeGO member cities Quezon City (PH), Pokhara (Nepal), and Bharatpur (Nepal) also benefited from the software.

The United Nations held its Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) an event that brought together over 50,000 participants.
WeGO, with its partner, the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), hosted a networking event on the theme ¨Smart City Strategies and Data Revolution for Sustainable Development” The networking event featured high-level presenters from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), KRIHS, World Bank, United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC), and WeGO member, Pittsburgh.

WeGO 4th General Assembly, hosted by Ulyanovsk Region, gathered over 400 attendees, representing 125 cities from 48 countries as well as 59 international organizations.

As part of the packed, three-day program, participants were treated to many informative presentations from smart city leaders around the world, the World Mayors Roundtable, Design Thinking & Ideation Workshop, WeGO Gala Dinner, Ulyanovsk Banquet Dinner, and Technical & Cultural Tour.
The conference was a transformative event for WeGO as member cities voted for the growing importance of smart city concepts for urban areas around the world and changing WeGO’s name to “World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization”.

During the EXCOM 2017 hosted by Ulyanovsk Region along the GA, WeGO welcomed two new regional offices for the Mediterranean and Latin America: Beyoglu (Turkey) and Mexico City (Mexico), respectively. Beyoglu hosted the Opening Ceremony in conjunction with its Sister Cities Mayor’s and Best Practice Sharing Forum. Mexico City, becoming the fourth regional office of WeGO, had commited to advocating for WeGO’s mission through it’s extensive network of cities in the Latin America and Mexico.

At the 4th GA in 2017, WeGO introduced a new Three-Year strategic plan and Mission Reformulation to adapt and provide the flexibility the organization needed to serve at the cutting edge of world trends.
At this stage, Corporate Membership was approved, giving WeGO the ability to develop long-term partnerships with global companies.
Gabotech, Korea smart card, SRPOST, and NTSYS Copr. became WeGO’s first corporate members.

In 2018, WeGO member cities from Asia took part in this first-ever study visit in Western Europe organized by WeGO and the Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV).
The City of Paris shared its initiatives for smart and sustainable growth, and a workshop was carried out on the empowerment of cities and citizens through data, hosted by the Brussels Capital Region.

WeGO was a co-host—along with several UN agencies in Korea—of the 2018 edition of the annual competition of startups around the world with a desire to solve urban issues in Seoul.
WeavAir, which works toward the improvement of indoor air quality, took the WeGO Secretary General’s Award, out of 30 finalists competing in green energy, urban mobility, and social protection.