While Smart City Summit and Expo (SCSE) is now the largest smart city tradeshow in the world, one of its biggest spotlights is the Mayors’ Summit, which has been co-organized by Taipei City and Taipei Computer Association since 2014. The platform engages city leaders worldwide in sharing how smart technologies bring about new opportunities and convenience for cities. Through this grand smart city conference that attracts numerous city representatives around the world, Taipei has been able to expand the reaches of its city diplomacy.
With signs of the pandemic slightly subsiding around the world, cities are now prepared to embrace a “New Normal”. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has caused great impact upon citizens’ lives, economies, and tradeshow industries. Thanks to Taiwan’s outstanding performance in pandemic prevention, the 2022 SCSE and Mayors’ Summit is able to be take place physically in Taipei City, with 30 overseas delegates to join the roundtable sessions. The guests in first session include representative of Vysocina from the Czech Republic, who will be attending in person, as well as online delegates from Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives, Gdynia (Poland), Rzeszow (Poland), City of Aix-en-Provence (France), City of Edinburgh (the UK), Selangor (Malaysia), Dijon Métropole (France), and Edo State (Nigeria).
Thanks to Taiwan’s solid foundation in ICT technology and application knowhow, the SCSE will be conducted under a hybrid format, enabling active participation of leaders from cities around the world. To hasten the steps towards full recovery for cities, local governments are striving to enhance their IT infrastructure, help citizens to adapt, and lead the digital transformation for industries. Taipei is open to sharing the experience among counterparts and hopes that via the Mayors’ Summit, the topic on “How do Cities Respond to the ‘New Normal’ with Digital Transformation?” will contribute to the building of closer connections among cities.
Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je stated that after the devastation of pandemic, the world can no longer go back to the past – whether in terms of economies or lifestyles. In response to the ‘New Normal,’ Taipei adopts the strategy emphasizing “prevention, relief, transformation” to help businesses and citizens adjust their mindset and establish a new social economic model, achieving a balance between pandemic prevention and economic development. This January, Taipei City Government published its “Action Plan for Digital Transformation of Industries in the Post-Pandemic Era White Paper version 2.0” to reinforce the previous version released in 2021. The program drives the digital transformation of industries in post-pandemic era by focusing on e-commerce, CooC Cloud, telehealth, Taipei Urban Intelligence Center, and so on. It seeks to herald in a next century of Smart Taipei based on the ‘New Normal.”
The 2022 Smart City Mayors’ Summit comprises two sessions – separately at 4pm on March 22 and 7am on March 23 at Room 701D of Taipei Nangang Exhibition Hall 2. Mayor Ko will deliver a keynote speech, followed by the roundtable session presided over by Deputy Mayor Shan-shan Huang involving and international city leaders to address the topic of “How do Cities Respond to the "New Normal" with Digital Transformation?” Discussions will focus on issues such as “How to use technologies to contain the pandemic under the COVID-19 impact?” and “What are the new smart city applications that could help cities to recover quickly?” The Smart City Leading Women Summit will take place at 10 AM on March 23. Deputy Mayor Huang will join 5 female municipal leaders from both Taiwan (Taitung County, Yulin County, Hualien County) and abroad (Belize, the US, and Saint Lucia) will discuss and exchange ideas on “women power drives the city’s smart digital transformation.”
The summits will be conducted in English and livestreamed on YouTube channels for online audience. The conference info and links are listed below:
2022 Smart City Mayors’ Summit
Session 1: Euro-Asia 4-6pm (GMT+8) on Mar. 22nd
English: https://youtu.be/U9szsIGYJ-M
Chinese: https://youtu.be/mOqt5hdSXgQ
Session 2: Americas-APAC 7–9am (GMT+8) on Mar. 23rd
English: https://youtu.be/qyG7tJmVNVY
Chinese: https://youtu.be/yFa8_umRCww
Smart City Leading Women Summit
10am-noon on Mar. 23rd
English: https://youtu.be/8zy45RD5JG0
Chinese: https://youtu.be/uu5rzeBnZk8
Chart1:Schedule of Smart City Mayors' Summit and Leading Women Summit | Event | Date | Participating countries |
| Mayors’ Summit Session 1 | Mar. 22 | 【Euro-Asia】
Vysocina of Czech Republic, who attends in person, and online delegates from Gdynia (Poland), Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Rzeszow (Poland), City of Aix-en-Provence (France), City of Edinburgh (the UK), Selangor (Malaysia), Dijon Métropole (France), and Edo State (Nigeria). |
| Mayors’ Summit Session 2 | Mar. 23 | 【Americas-APAC】
Castries Constituency Council (Saint Lucia), Newark City Government, New Jersey (the US), São José dos Campos City, Sao Paulo (Brazil, Municipio Metropolitano de Quito (Ecuador), City of Peachtree Corners (the US), Palmerston North City Council (New Zealand), Municipalidad de Asunción (Paraguay), City of Atlanta (the US), City of Edmonton (Canada), City of Denver (the US) |
| Leading Women Summit | Mar. 23 | Belmopan City (Belize), Castries (Saint Lucia), Newark City, NJ (the US) |
Smart City Oline | Mayors’ Summit online |
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