Taipei City Government added a special event “The Development and Application of Intelligent Cities Seminar” to the 5th United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) Asia-Pacific Congress in 2014, gathering hundreds of city representatives from around the world. Mayor Brenda Halloran of Waterloo, Canada; Deputy Mayor GunsoKim of Seoul, South Korea;Chairman of Taipei’s EasyCard Corporation and counselor to Taipei Mayor Chia-Sheng Chang; and MayorYasutomo Suzuki of Hamamatsu, Japan,were invited to share their experience on the topic of intelligent city.

Deputy Mayor Kim of Seoul, to dig into the topic of big data, shared his experience in Seoul’s “late night bus service” and “taxi-matching service” as examples. These cases demonstrate how to base government administrations on big data, collecting and analyzingthe details on problems that citizens encounter in their daily lives, and responding to citizens’ needs and solving their problems which include social welfare, economy, transportation, weather, etc. The services not only help the government enhance administrative efficiency and winning the citizens’ approval, but also add value to the municipal services.

Mayor Halloranof Waterloo showed that Waterloo has many world-class institutions, including energy conservation consulting firmEnermodal Engineering, software supplier Open Text, mobile phone manufacturer RIM, and University of Waterloo. The foundations of Waterloo’s success are talents, innovation, and cooperation. Its development in intelligent city is established upon the principles of safety, convenience, people orientation, and friendliness, allowing Waterloo to retain its leadership in this rapid and competitive worldin providing high-quality lives and retaining talents and businesses.

Mayor Suzukiof Hamamatsu explained that in the post-Great East Japan Earthquake era, energy conservation policies have become an important topic for local governments. In light of this trend, Hamamatsu set out to implement 4 comprehensive policies that cover renewable energy, energy conservation, smart communities, and energy industries. Employing information and communication technologies, the municipality can retain sufficient energy even when disasters strike. This also allows the municipal government to build an intelligent city for society, citizens, and industries in a sustainable manner.

Dr. Chang, Chairman of EasyCard Corporation,explored Taipei’s ICT policies and infrastructure construction in his presentation“Riverside, Humanity, Technology,”covering topics such as Taipei Free WIFI service and the “Fiber-To-The-Home”optical fiber network program, as well as the triple play in telecommunication to enhance municipal cloud services and the operation procedures of the renowned1999 citizen hotline. He also talked about Taipei City’s achievement in the areas of open data, intelligenttraffic, and the role of ICT in upholding public safety.

This seminar was hosted by the Master of Ceremony Dr. Chien-Yuan Lin and the Coordinator Dr. Samuel S. G. Wu, joined by representatives from the cities of Waterloo, Seoul, Hamamatsu, and Taipei. Together they shared their experience in dealing with key issues in their respective citiesto provide examples for other representatives attending the seminar. It was mutually agreed that the promotion of intelligent city is the key to sustainable development.