Japanese stakeholders introduced to WeGO in exclusive webinar series for Japan
July 13, 2020
SEOUL – WeGO co-organized a two-part webinar series for a new myriad of prospective members and partners in Japan, in its first event conducted solely for a Japanese audience through the expansive network of partner Smart City Institute Japan (SCI-J).
SCI-J, Japan’s only smart city organization with a nationwide membership of around 130, arranged for the webinars as part of its weekly series “Smart City 101,” which informally discusses hot topics in the area of smart cities with select experts locally and abroad for observers from Japanese ministries, prefectural and municipal governments, MNCs, SMEs, and institutions.
WeGO Secretary General Kyong-yul Lee delivered a pre-recorded message to attendees, expressing high hopes for close cooperation with Japan and stressing the importance of partnerships to accelerate the development of smart solutions, particularly amid the crisis of COVID-19.
Responding to the special interest of SCI-J’s network in the smart city landscape of Korea, WeGO dedicated Part 1 of “WeGO, Best Practice in Korea, and Strategic Partnerships in Japan” on July 6 to introducing its organization—including the Smart Health Responder launched in March 2020 to provide members, partners and stakeholders with useful information to combat the COVID-19 pandemic—along with cases of best practice from Seoul, Busan and Sejong.
Part 2 on July 13 focused on partnerships with Japan for project implementation through WeGO’s Smart City Driver—WeGO’s overarching framework to help cities plan, finance and deploy their smart city projects—and regional networks, such as the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN), whose 26 pilot cities WeGO has supported since last year. The discussion set out the context for a subregional platform and regional network that WeGO will spearhead over the coming months in Northeast Asia.
On August 5, WeGO in partnership with the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) will conduct a webinar to synthesize the smart city initiatives of Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul, along with national networks and ICT leaders such as Alibaba, NEC, and Samsung SDS. The event will be a precursor to an online workshop on October 21, which will round up key stakeholders across the broader region ahead of the establishment of a formal Northeast Asia Smart Cities Network (NEASCN).
Observers from the cities of Kyoto and Toyota along with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); MNCs such as Canon, Dentsu, Hankyu, Mitsubishi, and Nikkei; and academics from leading institutions across Japan were present for the two webinars, and were invited to take part in the upcoming events for CJK and NEASCN.
Recordings of the webinars can be seen on YouTube (Part 1, Part 2), and English transcripts downloaded here.
