Asia’s largest smart city exhibition, World Smart City Expo 2023 opens in Goyang, Korea
Seoul, September 08, 2023 – Asia-Pacific region’s largest smart city global event, the World Smart City Expo(WSCE) was held on September 6th, 2023 at Kintex located in the city of Goyang. The Exposition was hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) bringing together governments, businesses, experts, and citizens from across the world to build smarter, more livable cities.
WSCE featured a variety of programs where domestic and foreign cities, governments, smart city-related businesses, and academic experts collaborated to solve urban problems in areas such as technology, governance, data, and financing. At this special event, there were over 300 companies from 20 countries participating in the expo and 700 attendees from 54 countries.
The WSCE Mayors Forum was held at the Expo, where international and domestic mayors shared their experiences on successful smart city models in their respective cities, and attendees were able to experience various smart city models in Korea, such as the Hydrogen City Pavilion, the National Pilot Smart City Pavilion, and the Autonomous Driving Experience Space.
One of the highlights included Secretary General Jung Sook Park’s keynote speech that raised awareness of smart cities in South Korea and outlined the steps cities have taken to become today’s smart cities. Park had the opportunity to interact with many attendees and introduce upcoming WeGO events such as the Seoul Smart City Prize, the 6th WeGO General Assembly, and WeGO’s global role.
The session emphasized the importance of inclusive and equitable smart city strategies, ensuring that all citizens, regardless of socioeconomic status, have access to the benefits and services of smart cities. During the session, participants emphasized the importance of citizen-centric approaches to smart city development, involving residents in decision-making processes and utilizing their feedback to shape urban policies and services.
“Smart cities can be viewed as our bodies, and data is their blood. -The development of a good smart city can be achieved through the collection of data for citizens based on digital ethics, security, etc.” said the Secretary-General.
The Secretary-General engaged with Korean government officials at the Expo, including Sang-Il Lee, Mayor of Yongin, Oh-Jin Kim, Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation, Min-Ki Kim Chairman of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation Committee, Dong-Hwan Lee, Mayor of Goyang, Dong-Keun Kim, Mayor of Uijeongbu, and Expo participants, including Dr. Edlam Abera Yemeru, Chief of UN Habitat’s Knowledge and Innovation Branch, and Chiang Mai Municipality delegates with whom discussions on the future of smart cities and promoting WeGO’s upcoming activities took place.
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