IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The construction and infrastructure sector is often criticised for not clearly and in an accessible way illustrating the tangible benefits of its work to citizens. In my experience this is a charge that could be laid at the door of construction’s growing number of digital advocates, who come together at conferences and workshops and are so excited by the tech that they forget about its impact on those whose lives it affects the most.

So, it was a breath of fresh air to hear Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence advisory firm and incubator, speaking at the Bentley Year in Infrastructure conference in Singapore, say passionately “It’s never the right way to start with the technology – you should always start with the problem.” Khanna repeatedly urged her audience to focus on citizens and the benefits of digital technology on real people’s lives and making them better for longer.

From transport to entertainment, work to education, our lives are already being transformed by high-speed internet that will help create the fully wired city. Within 10 years, faster, comprehensive, wired and wireless networks will not only become the norm, they will become free, says Gerd Leonhard, chief executive of the business thinktank The Futures Agency. The reason? The enormous benefits to government and education.

Cluj-Napoca City Hall will transform a street from Marasti neighborhood, after a pilot project, in a smart street that provides not only more space for pedestrians but also high tech facilities.

The street will include Electric Mobile Loadable Banks, state-of-the-art LED lighting poles that incorporate WIFI systems for internet in public space, as well as charging stations for electric bicycles or scooters. In addition, 50 trees will be planted.

The economic capital, Douala, last Monday December 12 became the first city to have an optical fibre ring. The ring that measures over 50 kilometres cost some FCFA 3 billion entirely funded by the Telecommunications Special Fund. It ushers the "First Smart City" in particular and Cameroon in general into a society of information and knowledge.

Presiding at the inauguration ceremony, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Jean Biyiti bi Essam, said the major accomplishment in the telecommunications sector translates government's will to stimulate and accelerate economic growth using Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs.

I’m currently working on a training program for the Beijing municipal government on ways to build a data-driven smart city and design a framework for precise decision-making.

Many people mix up a decision-making system with a data dashboard.

Data visualization through methods such as data dashboard can simply tell us what’s going on. Making the right decision after consolidating all the information and a thorough analysis is a different story.

Macao and Alibaba Cloud will work together to upgrade the special administrative region (SAR) into a smart city by applying cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI), according to an agreement signed on Friday by Macao SAR government and Alibaba Cloud.

Macao SAR Chief Executive Office Director O Lam and President of Alibaba Cloud Hu Xiaoming signed the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement to Build Smart City at a ceremony presided by SAR Chief Executive Chui Sai On and the board of directors of Alibaba Group Jack Ma.

Hong Kong should look to Tokyo, as well as Huawei and ZTE, for guidance on how to build a ‘smart’ city

So, what is a “smart city”? We hear the phrase all the time. In Tokyo meetings last week, I sat through four separate presentations on the subject of smart cities. Everyone wants them. Everyone tells you they are building them. But with no agreed definition of what constitutes a “smart city”, heaven knows whether everyone is talking about the same thing.

We live in an era where technology breaks new ground almost every day.

Engineers and researchers are moving quickly too, with a focus on making the places we live in better, safer and smarter via new innovations.

According to the World Health Organization, every year, traffic accidents claim the lives of more than 260,000 Chinese people.

China's Baidu is planning to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) cloud computing center in the country as the company continues to push through with its "smart city" projects.

According to Xinhua, the Chinese tech giant is looking to expand its AI programs by building a cloud computing center in Baoding, Hebei Province. The project aims to cater to the residents of the Xiongan New Area as well as other regions in the northern part of the country.

JD finance is the division of JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant. JD finance has its headquarters in Nanjing. Smart City Research Institute is established in Nanjing.

The use cases for the JD platform were “The technology can help companies streamline operational procedures such as tracking and tracing the movement of goods and charity donations, authenticity certification, property assessment, transaction settlements, digital copyrights, and enhance productivity.”

This year’s policy address actively fosters innovation and technology development with eight specific proposals. It is gratifying to see that the Chief Executive has fulfilled her promise in the election campaign: to act as a “facilitator” and “promoter” in innovation and technology development.

The eight proposals are quite comprehensive, covering nurturing and attracting talent, increasing public and private sector research resources, opening government data, and revising outdated regulations that impede the development of innovation and technology. The Government will also increase investment in trying new services, while the Efficiency Unit will merge with the Innovation and Technology Bureau to form a stronger team to promote innovation and effective use of technology within the Government. It is even more encouraging that the Chief Executive will chair an internal Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology, to steer collaboration and participation across bureau and departments with effect from the most senior level on the smart city related policies.

The 2019 Shenzhen Smart City Forum with International Friendship Cities opened last Tuesday with the theme "ushering in a bright future for smart cities". The forum brings together Shenzhen officials, Huawei executives and smart city experts, UN-Habitat experts and scholars, delegates from cities around the world with smart city experience, as well as high-tech enterprises to share their latest development concepts and practices. The forum aims to promote communication and cooperation in building smart, digital cities.

Ai Xuefeng, Deputy Mayor of Shenzhen, hosted the opening ceremony with Wang Weizhong, Secretary of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee, Xie Yuan, Deputy Chair of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and Frank Ross, Lord Provost of Edinburgh speaking at the forum’s opening. Guest speakers included Guo Ping, Rotating Chairman of Huawei; Ugo Valenti, CEO of Smart City Expo World Congress; and Rui Costa dos Santos, Governor of the State of Bahia, Brazil.

The 2019 Shenzhen Smart City Forum with International Friendship Cities opened on Tuesday with the theme "ushering in a bright future for smart cities". The forum brings together Shenzhen officials, Huawei executives and smart city experts, UN-Habitat experts and scholars, delegates from cities around the world with smart city experience, as well as high-tech enterprises to share their latest development concepts and practices. The forum aims to promote communication and cooperation in building smart, digital cities.

This Chinese city has a grand vision to be the world’s role model for smart and safe cities.

Walking on the streets of Shenzhen, few remnants of its past as a fishing village remains. Instead, the city is a concrete jungle of modern high rise buildings, 40 years after it was named as China’s first special economic zone.

A Shenzhen official says the city's big data approach to governance shows a contrast to Hong Kong's "mindset"

Shenzhen is experimenting with a “party and technology” development model as it aims to become a “socialist model city.”

The city, which is known for its technology industry, was told by Beijing in August to find “the best modern governance practices that promote high quality and sustainable development so it can be held up as an example of civilized society of law and order where people enjoy a high degree of satisfaction.”

Dr. Winnie Tang Shuk-ming, an expert on geographical information system (GIS), has been making a great deal of effort to introduce and drive the development of the important technology in Hong Kong. Her entrepreneurial journey, which involves GIS technology development and promotion, dates back to 1997, when Tang began launching her own business after leaving a teaching post at the faculty of architecture at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

The US Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau, Kurt Tong, once said that a smart city would be a competitive city. That is the same thought that drives Tang’s work efforts.

Under the theme of ‘Smarter Hong Kong, Smarter Living’, the Government has proposed the following projects:

No shortage of tech inventors and innovators in the city, but it is hard to commercialise their products

Ronald Pong watched with dismay as some Hong Kong cabbies carried out undercover sting operations recently to expose Uber drivers who did not have permits to pick up passengers.

The taxi drivers’ frustration with competition from the popular ride-hailing platform has festered for years, but the angry confrontation was also a sign of what was holding Hong Kong back in the global race to embrace technology.

Ping An Insurance Group, China’s largest insurer by market value, has set its eyes on the country’s smart city projects to bolster its transformation into a technology-driven financial conglomerate while taking on established technology giants.

Mature technologies used to build a smart city will be fully developed and expanded to various mainland cities next year as the company looks to secure a front-runner position in the segment nationwide, said Yu Ning, head of Ping An’s technology entrepreneurs division, in an interview with South China Morning Post.

One of China’s most significant personal financial services groups will preview its “Smart City” project, which will focus on smart solutions to city operations.

One of China’s largest personal financial service groups, Ping An, is debuting its innovative new Smart City and AI initiatives at next week’s China Smart City Expo in Shenzhen, China.