WeGO human-centered smart city initiatives welcomed in the Middle East
ABU DHABI, May 9th – WeGO’s successful entry to the Middle East was initiated through the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) 2023, which took place from May 8th to May 10th, 2023 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, under the Annual Investment Meeting Foundation. One of the top investment platforms in the world had a theme for this year, which was “Investment Paradigm Shift: Future Investment Opportunities to Foster Sustainable Economic Growth, Diversity, and Prosperity.”
At AIM 2023, WeGO organized a workshop, “The Making of Smart and Sustainable City: Implementing smart and sustainable city projects through Private-Public-People Partnership (PPPP)”. The primary aim of this workshop was to explore the idea of employing PPPP as a strategy for constructing intelligent and eco-friendly smart cities. Global representatives participated from cities such as Bishkek and Shiraz, the private sector from Al Ramz and Bank of Sharjah, and the public sector from Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Accelerate Africa. The highly proactive participants shared their projects’ challenges and gave insight into opportunities and solutions for smart and sustainable city development. Concluding the workshop by submitting their project as an application to the Seoul Smart City Prize. The attendees expressed their eagerness to get their project into the competition for the prize this year.
WeGO’s active promotion for the Seoul Smart City Prize was accomplished by means of having an expo booth to meet potential applicants interested in competing for the prize. Smart city stakeholders or those who had a keen fascination with smart cities dropped by the booth to ask inquiries about WeGO membership and express willingness to apply for the Seoul Smart City Prize.
Moreover, the interactive discussion continued at WeGO’s high-level session, “Constructing Visions for the Future of Smart Cities” with WeGO’s members gathered altogether at AIM 2023; Seoul, Baguio, Bishkek, Hebron, Maputo and San Fernando, Yerevan and joining us were the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT), Abu Dhabi and Masdar City. The honorary presenters included: Benjamin Banez Magalong, Mayor of Baguio City, Philippines, Hermenegildo Gualberto, Mayor of San Fernando La Union, Philippines, Shamyraliev Zhyrgalbek Dzhumadilovich, Deputy Mayor of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Danúbio Lado, Deputy Mayor of Maputo City, Mozambique, Tigran Avinyan, Deputy Mayor of Yerevan city, Armenia H.E., and Omar Al Shaiba, Executive Director of Information Technology Affairs Sector at the Department of Municipalities and Transport, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Amidst the changing economic landscapes across the world, the presenters shared their methods of constructing smart cities while prioritizing sustainability, inclusiveness, and a people-centric approach. The session fostered a dynamic and engaging conversation that delved into diverse approaches for leveraging smart technology to build cities of the future.
In particular, standouts from the presentations were Baguio city’s smart operating model and data hub that focuses on the security of the urban landscape by mapping out hazardous and vulnerability levels of rain-induced landslides. The strategic digitalization in the cities’ processes of Bishkek and Maputo. And DMT’s method of identification of projects and obstacles that multiple departments and sectors within DMT plan to tackle through the implementation of the smart city initiatives presented intriguing points.
In the Global Leaders Debate, the Secretary-General was a panelist among the Acting Secretary General, the Economic Commission for Africa, the Head of Application Development, Dubai Development Authority, and the CEO of Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) with the topic of, “The Future Paradigm Shift: Future Investment Opportunities to Foster Sustainable Economic Growth, Diversity, and Prosperity” to present new angel about the different elements influencing the economy towards a transition.
“For a better, responsive delivery towards citizens’ needs and demands, the city level is better equipped to involve the local communities in the decision-making procedure and promote political participation towards a thriving democracy. As a high level of democracy is closely associated with increased productivity and increased investments resulting in economic growth, decentralization is a key element for transition.” said the Secretary-General.
On the last day of the event, AIM arranged a bilateral meeting for WeGO and Governors from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The governors conveyed their viewpoints in identifying how to ‘bridge the gap’ in terms of smart city development. Before the installation of advanced technology, research in replicable cases, primary assessment, and smart planning was emphasized. However, the Secretary-General noted that the smart city concept is not confined to smart technology implementation in cities but is a conceptual term now referring to the smart city as a culture that invites all cities of varied stages of growth for tackling challenges together. The Congo Governors were encouraged to share their potential or ongoing city projects through the Seoul Smart City Prize as the prize value stands at recognizing all kinds of efforts by cities.
Lastly, WeGO signed an MoU at an in-person ceremony with the AIM Foundation to promote our vision and activities, such as the Seoul Smart City Prize, in order to display various innovative smart city projects from the Middle East region and all regions worldwide to the global platform.
WeGO members, smart city stakeholders of the Middle East, future partners, and collaborators, are all encouraged to apply to the Seoul Smart City Prize with remarkable initiatives and are invited to the Prize Ceremony and WeGO General Assembly in Seoul from September 24th to 26th.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 7th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), the Mediterranean (Beyoglu, Turkey), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.
WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
Press Contact:
Name: Jin Hwang
E-mail: jin.hwang@we-gov.org
Phone: 02-720-2931