Smart City Youth Program “WeGO Champions” runs for its second year

Seoul, September 27, 2023 –The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) is running its youth program called WeGO Sustainable Smart City Champions in its second year, after its success the year prior. With the theme “Accelerating, Benchmarking, and Communicating Smart and Sustainable Cities’ Transitions”, this year’s program is set to guide young leaders on centering smart city development back to the citizens. The online program will be available for free to all interested at www.cityresiliencetraining.com. Certificates will be awarded to participants who will complete the course.

After the success of last year’s ‘WeGO Champions’, the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) is continuing the program with a wider scope. More formally known as the WeGO Sustainable Smart City Champions, the youth program aims to build the capacity of young people in the field of sustainable smart city development. Aside from online lectures, this year’s program will also be hosted in person in six other cities–Baku (Azerbaijan), Munich (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland), Athens (Greece), Milan (Italy), and Los Angeles (USA). 

This year’s WeGO Champions consists of two phases: the online lectures and the in-person workshops. The eight (8) online lectures will be centered around key smart city topics including, but not limited to, the international framework of smart city development, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), meaningful data use for improving resilience, social cohesion, and inclusivity, and managing and engaging with multi-stakeholders and communities in cities. The overarching theme is “Accelerating, Benchmarking, and Communicating Smart and Sustainable Cities’ Transitions”.

After completing the online lectures, the participants will be able to receive a certificate from the organizers, WeGO, through the platform where the educational videos are uploaded: www.cityresiliencetraining.com. The certificate will be signed by WeGO’s Secretary General Ms. Park Jung Sook. Successful ‘Champions’ of this phase can apply and register to join the offline phase of the program which will be held in the six cities mentioned previously. The workshops will be conducted according to the theme and context of each city venue. 

• Baku, Azerbaijan – October 1 – Littoral Urbanization Land-use, Waste Management, Global Energy Supply at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy
• Munich, Germany – October 3 – Digital Transformations at the Technical University of Munich
• Geneva, Switzerland – October 4 – Global Cities Governance and Nature-Based Solutions at the University of Geneva, UNECE Center of Excellence on Smart Sustainable Cities
• Athens, Greece – October 24 – Global Tourism and Athens Coastal retrofitting Culture in the City at Patras University
• Milan, Italy – November 14 – Communicating Smart & Sustainable Cities at the Catholic University of Milan
• Los Angeles, USA – December 7 – Global Cities Urban Retrofitting Transport / Mobility Urban Natural Hazards at the University of California, Los Angeles

WeGO has heard from its member cities in multiple discussions, that one difficult hurdle their cities keep on bumping into is the citizens’ hesitance to the full integration and implementation of new technologies and improvements due to a variety of factors that stretch from methods citizens are accustomed to, to preserving traditions. 

In the ever-progressing field of smart cities, the youth’s role has been newfound. Along with the citizens’ reluctance to adopt developments that could improve the delivery of and receiving services (like in transport, health care, street safety, government administrative processes, etc.), comes the afresh trust in the youth in becoming beacons of embracing smart city transformations. For example, young people have been salient advocates of transitioning to processing official matters from paper to digital, like in banking, school, or government-related businesses, as well as promoting social inclusivity and 

In essence, the youth’s innate digital literacy has become a powerful tool to champion forwarding sustainable smart city development. The youth is seen as the missing link between cardinal advancement and citizens as a whole. 

Going back to in-person learning

The idea behind adding offline learning to the components of the WeGO Champions program roots from the integral contribution of practical exposure to the learning of its participants. This year’s WeGO Champions program will tackle context-specific issues and situation-dependent development respective to the city it is held in, with speakers instrumental and important to the advancement, planning, and implementation of urban solutions. 

Our esteemed moderators boast highly commendable backgrounds in Urban Development and Sustainable Smart Cities. Aside from WeGO Champions’ program advisors, Dr. Danil Kerimin, Dr. Alexandre Hedjazi, and Dr. Matteo Tarantino, the in-person events invite lecturers and professionals distinguished in their fields. Mr. Dmitry Maryasin from the UNECE, for example, has discussed intergenerational dialogue on the Localization of the Global Urban Sustainability Outlook, especially its challenges, opportunities, and skill set needed to circumvent the urban sustainability system complexity.  Other speakers are Dr. Tural Aliyev (EAWAG) and Dr. Haris Piplas (Drees & Sommers) who joined us in the discussion of Urban Futures perspectives. The other offline events will definitely have knowledgeable speaker lineups as well. 

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:  Kakim Danabayev
E-mail: kakim@we-gov.org
Phone: +82-70-4202-9169