2019 Smart City Summit & Expo Taipei opens doors of new age to visitors

Yu Cheng, head of the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance (TSSA), the event organizer, and chairman of Chunghwa Telecom Co said, “Over 1700 international professionals from 107 cities and 42 countries or regions across the globe, including guests, visitors, and information industry associations’ business delegations from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, India and elsewhere participated in the event.”

There were over 2000 international visitors, an increase of 30% relative to the previous year. A delegation of 128 representatives and city leaders led a large group of 276 members from cities around the world to take part in the Smart City Mayor’s Summit March 26 and attended the launch of the Global Organization of Smart Cities (GO SMART) initiative March 27. The Smart City Mayor’s Summit was moderated by Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je.

The event brought 337 exhibitors from around the world this year; approximately 1250 booths were set up to display products and solutions of smart city, marking an increase of 20 per cent compared to last year’s edition. 66 professional forums (a half-day session is counted as a forum) were held during the event, and 43 of them, or 65%, were held in English. More than 33,000 visitors attended the event, and more than 19,000 visitors are attended the forum. The 2019 SCSE includes four professional sub-expos: Smart Healthcare Expo (SHE Taipei), Smart Education Expo, Intelligent Building Expo (IBE Taipei), and Intelligent Transportation System Expo (ITS Expo); with ITS Expo a new sub-expo added to this year’s edition.

Smart Education Expo

The Smart Education Expo aims to ride on the technology trends in education and showcase the possibilities of advanced education applications of the future. This expo is considered to be one of the largest smart education platforms within Asia Pacific. Visitors can expect to understand how innovative applications can make use of technology to further improve the quality of education given to students at this expo.

Taiwan Showcases readiness for future of education

The country is aware of the rising demand of improving the state of smart education. In the age when students rely much on technology on their daily tasks, there are growing issues of (1) updating online resources, (2) retention, (3) comprehension, and, (4) passion to learn.

Taiwan’s openness to collaborate with several education ministry officers of various countries is a testament of their dedication to improve the state of smart education. During 2019 Smart City Summit and Expo in Taipei, a leaders panel discussion was held, which was moderated by Robert Ting, Vice President of Mitac Information Technology Corporation.

Mitac is the corporation behind the recently implemented E-Gate system at some international airport. The panel consists of experts in smart education. It seems that the common challenges among educators is how they can address the issues of: (1) aging educators who are having troubles in adapting to new technology; (2) and how schools can be ready to utilize new type of learning programs for children who are so glued to their tablets and smartphones. Panelists presented solutions that they implemented in their respective countries like holding specific training programs to educators and gamifying learning modules to raise the interest level of students.

It is interesting to note that during the panel discussion, Alexandros Papaspyridis, Higher Education Industry Solutions Director at Microsoft, said that Microsoft’s move to acquire Minecraft and LinkedIn is relevant to higher education and career advancement. Microsoft does not just simply see Minecraft as a game, but an educational tool to expand the creativity and skill among students and learners.

Smart Healthcare is top priority

The ICT industry and global hospitals are dedicated to improve efficiency of healthcare management and quality of hospital service. The goal of Smart health at 2019 Smart City is to bring about and showcase existing solutions to all attendees. From continuity care to precise health management, Taiwan has the technology that they are continuously ripening up for the world to see and use.

Dr. Somkiat Tangkitvanich, President of Thailand Development Research Institute, stressed his opinion that the classroom setting is antithesis to the current learning condition and presupposition among students. Tangkitvanich believes that the modern teacher needs to be properly equipped with skills to use technology as medium to educate and motivate students to learn.