Published: October 13, 2024, 16:21
Cho Jungwoo cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr
Audio report: Written by reporter, read by AI
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (center) and this year’s Seoul Smart City Award winners pose for a photo at the award ceremony held at COEX in southern Seoul on Thursday. (Seoul Metropolitan City)
City officials, business leaders and experts gathered in southern Seoul to honor those who are successfully leveraging technological innovation to build smarter, more inclusive cities.
The Seoul Smart City Awards ceremony was held on Thursday as part of the “1st Smart Life Week,” an ICT exhibition co-hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) at COEX in Gangnam-gu from Thursday to Saturday. Ta. Southern part of Seoul.
WeGO is a global city committee made up of 213 member cities and companies, and was launched by the city of Seoul in 2010.
This year’s Gold Awards in the two main categories of human-centeredness and technological innovation went to Baguio City in the Philippines and Reykjavik in Iceland, respectively.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (far right) poses with Baguio City officials from the Philippines who won the gold award in the human-centered category at an awards ceremony held at COEX in southern Seoul on Thursday. (Seoul Metropolitan City)
Baguio City won the award for its BIAG project, a health governance system designed to be inclusive and accessible, and Reykjavik won the award for its “Better Cities for Children” initiative, which helped improve its school system through digital transformation. Awarded.
“This award recognizes efforts at different stages of development and reflects our deep understanding that cities around the world face different challenges and have different levels of access to resources.” Seoul・Yves Daccord, member and chairperson of the Smart City Award Steering Committee, said: of Edgelands Institute.
“One of the elements that makes this award so unique is that the selection criteria have been carefully selected to capture both current trends in smart city development and the respective stages of development, capabilities and resources in each case. It’s by design.”
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (right) poses with officials from Reykjavik, Iceland, which won the gold award in the technological innovation category, at an award ceremony held at COEX in southern Seoul on Thursday. (Seoul Metropolitan City)
At this year’s ceremony, the second since the award was established in September 2022, 20 cities, companies and research institutions received awards in the categories of humanism, innovation, leadership and special recognition. .
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the award was created to “resolve the problem of polarization and promote inclusive growth in cities around the world.”
According to Daniil Kerimi, a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Supervisory Advisory Board and a member of Seoul Smart’s organizing committee, about 280 applications were submitted this year, many of them from Asia. It was said to have come from Africa and the Middle East. City award.
In the human-centered category, two silver awards were awarded to Miri in Malaysia and Curitiba in Brazil, and three bronze awards were awarded to Kragujevac in Serbia, Bilbao in Spain and Taoyuan in Taiwan. In the innovation category, two silver awards went to Dine from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Santa Monica, USA, while three bronze awards went to Cali from Colombia, Ecolant from South Korea and WeavAr Sp Zoo from Warsaw. Poland.
Kaare Pedersen, head of the mayor’s office for the city of Odense, Denmark, spoke at a presentation at the Smart City Performance Sharing Conference held at COEX in southern Seoul on Thursday. (Cho Jung Woo)
Prior to Thursday’s awards ceremony, last year’s winners shared their best practices for integrating technology into policy to improve citizens’ lives at the Smart Cities Performance Sharing Conference.
The Danish city of Odense won last year’s Gold Award for implementing a digital platform called LEAP (short for Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy for the People) and successfully “strengthening democratic dialogue between citizens and the city.” Awarded.
“Like many other OECD countries, we are suffering from declining trust in our political institutions and civil government,” Kaare Pedersen, head of the mayor’s office, said in a presentation explaining why the platform is needed.
“We need to bridge the gap between politicians and governments on the one hand and citizens and civil society on the other, because smart cities cannot exist without the support and trust of smart citizens.”
Pedersen said implementing digital platforms, such as holding digital town hall meetings, helped attract younger participants.
Participatory budgeting was another method the city used to involve citizens in the decision-making process.
“It fostered a common understanding and trust in the decisions being made,” he said.
Bruno Lanvin, Director of the Smart Cities Observatory at the International Institute for Management Development, said: “To exchange experiences with others, to attract talent from all over the world, to mix values, philosophies, religions and visions of the future.” He emphasized the importance of developing smart cities based on During his keynote speech.
Visitors view wearable robots at a booth at the Smart Life Week event held at COEX in southern Seoul on Thursday. The first event, which ran from Thursday to Saturday, showcased technology from 115 cities and institutions and 147 companies. (Union)
The three-day SLW event attracted more than 20,000 attendees from 72 countries, 155 cities and institutions, and 147 companies, all under this year’s theme: Human-centered technologies for better lives. We gathered.
The city government hopes to hold this event every year, and next year’s event is scheduled to be held from September 30th to October 2nd.
“Seoul’s smart city is not a cold, mechanical, high-tech city,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in a speech at the event’s opening ceremony on Thursday.
“Rather, it is a city full of warmth and humanity. We dream of a smart city where everyone can experience the benefits of digital technology and grow together.”
Cho Jungwoo (cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr)
