WeGO Paves the Way for ‘Smart Life in Smart City’ at 2024 Kick-off Event
Seoul, February 20, 2024 – WeGO 2024 Activities Kick-Off event gathered members and partners both virtually and in person with the primary objective to present new key agendas, programs, and events for implementation in the smart city area throughout 2024. The event was held on the theme of “Smart Life in a Smart City”. Around 200 WeGO members, partners, and stakeholders, participated in the event from 31 countries, including 17 ambassadors, 14 corporate members & partners, and 17 institutions.
The Secretary General of WeGO, Jung Sook Park opened the event with a welcoming remarks, “WeGO continues to focus on setting an agenda for cyber security and undertaking knowledge-sharing projects on clean digital ID and digital ethics. Additionally, the organization continued to serve as a platform for advocating the importance of city-led smart city initiatives such as citiverse, as the new standard to harness other realms of critical smart city issues“.
As the President City of WeGO, the Mayor of Seoul pledged in his congratulatory remarks to continue supporting the organization in its important mission to promote sharing of the experiences and know-hows in the smart city field, and cooperation among cities around the world to bridge the digital divide and improve the quality of life of citizens.
Congratulatory remarks were delivered by H.E. Arystanov Nurgali, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan, highlighting the pivotal role of Almaty, Kazakhstan, as a new WeGO regional office for Central Asia, offering a gateway to harness the economic potential of Central Asia and serving as the host city for the WeGO EXCOM 2024 and the 7th General Assembly in 2026.
“WeGO is taking proactive steps to strengthen the network of cities so that they can learn from each other and spread the best practices to make our cities smart, innovative, and inclusive. Therefore we wholeheartedly support WeGO’s goals and efforts toward that end. We believe we should harness the power of green energy infrastructure, a friendly and human-centered sustainable growth environment. ” said H.E. Arystanov Nurgali, Ambassador from the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in his congratulatory remarks.
Also, H.E. Maria Theresa Dizon-De Vega delivered the last Congratulatory remarks representing WeGO’s member cities from the Philippines.In particular, Makati City holds a position as an Executive Committee Member City of WeGO and also welcomes the Quezon City delegation of 40 government officials led by the Vice-Mayor Mr. Gian Carlo Sotto attending the WeGO 2024 Activities Kick-off event in person.
WeGO exhibited the key initiatives and vision for 2024 accentuating the significance of human-centered smart cities by incorporating this year’s theme, “Smart Life in Smart City”, which describes WeGO’s aim to exemplify the strategy around digital technologies, and its evolution in the advent of emerging virtual worlds such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital twin, and metaverse solutions that are implemented in the welfare, tourism, public safety, and civil services around the world.
Accompanying the activities towards smart city development following last year’s success the Second Seoul Smart City Prize was introduced. The Seoul Prize is an initiative established by the President City of WeGO, the Seoul Metropolitan Government to promote innovative and inclusive smart city models supporting vulnerable groups in the digitalized era. The Seoul Prize aims to recognize and showcase the multitude of smart city projects and efforts to the world.
The winners of the Seoul Smart City Prize will be honored at the Prize Ceremony, receiving a trophy and provided with an opportunity to showcase their innovative projects in a dedicated booth. They will also have a chance to present their awarded projects at forums and participate in Seoul Smart Life Week tour programs. Moreover, winners will benefit from a comprehensive 4-week training program organized by the Seoul Human Resource Development Center. This program includes both online and offline components, featuring live lectures and smart city tours. Notably, the winners can access financial support of approximately 150,000 USD to implement smart city projects, including assistance for pre-feasibility studies.
Another flagship event for this year is the WeGO Executive Committee Meeting that will take place in Almaty (Kazakhstan). EXCOM Members and partners will join in Kazakhstan to shape key agendas and provide assistance in reviewing the organization’s activities and accomplishments in 2024 and to decide on key agenda items guiding the organization’s direction for the future.
Following the presentation of this year’s key initiatives, WeGO organized the “Smart Life in Smart City: WeGO Activities Forum,” where participants showcased their innovative projects and programs aimed at enhancing best practices in smart city development.
The discussion was led by representatives from WeGO Partners from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and the President of the Smart City Observatory Mr. Bruno Lanvin. Mr. Lanvin presented IMD’s work with WeGO with a focus on human-centered smart city research and the publication of the IMD Smart City Index Report 2023. Through this human-centric index, WeGO member cities and partners were able to evaluate their progress, compare their performance, and learn from other cities’ experiences. Looking ahead, WeGO is going to explore more possibilities for the Smart City Index collaboration for 2024.
Mr. Danil Kerimi, Dean of WeGO Sustainable Smart City Champions and Co-founder of the Edgelands Institute shared the WeGO Sustainable Smart City Champions program, which aims to inspire and empower young urban leaders in smart cities and sustainable development. Launched in 2023, the program gathered youth globally for knowledge exchange and capacity building in urban development, sustainability, and smart cities through online certificate courses and in-person workshops in five cities worldwide. In 2023, over 200 students attended the workshops conducted in Baku, Munich, Geneva, Athens, and Milan, gaining practical exposure and engaging in dynamic discussions with WeGO Champions. The program fostered active learning and community-building among young leaders committed to enhancing their own smart cities.
Director of the EDCF Coordination Department at the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank), Ms. Donghee Yoo unveiled the strategic partnership between WeGO and Korea-EXIM Bank, leveraging the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) to identify smart city ODA projects in cities committed to sustainable smart city development worldwide.
The discussion on WeGO and Corporate Partnerships was spearheaded by two esteemed corporate members, SRPOST and Dassault Systèmes. SRPOST showcased case studies and successful project implementations across WeGO member cities. These examples highlighted the tangible benefits derived from the partnership facilitated through WeGO network and support. Meanwhile, Dassault Systèmes Korea outlined its strategic plans and anticipated outcomes as one of the newest members to join the WeGO community.
In addition, WeGO held an Awards Ceremony that recognizes outstanding citizens of Seoul who have made a remarkable contribution to the city through their expertise and service, thus enhancing the quality of life in the city. This was followed by a New Membership Certificate Giving Ceremony and a Networking session.
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
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