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Taiwan's First "Smart City Expo" to be Staged Feb. 19-22 in Taipei

2014/02/14 | By Steve Chuang

Aiming to become Asia's largest business and technology exchange platform for the smart city sector, Taiwan's first exhibition of this kind, Smart City Expo, is scheduled for February 19-22 in Taipei.

Organized by the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), the inaugural show will take place in the TWTC (Taiwan World Trade Center) Nangang Exhibition Hall, to accommodate about 500 standard booths along with a full line of smart city applications, from retail, buildings and healthcare through transportation, the Internet of things, and so forth.

According to TCA, the exhibition will see a number of exhibitors from home and abroad, including such large-sized enterprises and organizations as IBM, Tatung Co. (a veteran Taiwanese supplier of household appliances), Advantech Corp. (an industrial computer and embedded system developer), Chunghwa Telecom Co., (the largest telecom service provider in Taiwan), Taiwan Mobile Co., (Taiwan's top-three telecom company), and Institute for Information Industry (a local research institute).

Moreover, TCA noted that 16 visitor and buyer groups from cities in China, such as Wuhan, Wuxi and Nantong, will also attend the exhibition, the biggest number ever among  trade fairs held in Taiwan.

Motivated by smart city being increasingly a buzzword worldwide to inaugurate the Smart City Expo, TCA indicated that presently more than 1,000 cities have begun smart city projects, making it opportune for Taiwan to engage itself in the field to boost its export-driven economy largely sustained by tech products.

With the government actively promoting construction of smart cities islandwide, TCA added, quality of local people's lives can be enhanced, while domestic ICT (information and communication technology) companies receive chances to sharpen their capability in the landscape to better compete globally.

Among the most active nations to promote smart cities is China, which has decided to carry out smart city development projects to gradually introduce related applications in 202 cities nationwide. Besides, the Chinese government also aims to build 600-800 smart cities as part of its 12th Five-year Plan.

From another viewpoint, the upcoming Smart City Expo is regarded as a growth driver for Taiwan's ICT industry in the future. TCA emphasized that Taiwanese tech firms are generally facing a new round of paradigm shifts, so should try to transform from hardware manufacturers into solution providers, with smart city being a guide to help them  survive the transition.

The Institute for Information Technology predicts that the global market scale for smart city applications will reach several tens of trillions of New Taiwan dollars in the coming years, with China to contribute up to NT$5 trillion to the total as a potentially lucrative segment. (SC)

Overview of Smart City Expo 2014
Date

February 19-22

Location

TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall, Taipei

Accommodated Booth Number

Over 500

Exhibition Themes

Smart retail, smart buildings, smart healthcare, smart transportation, the Internet of things, etc.

Highlighted Exhibitors

IBM, Tatung Co., Chunghwa Telecom, Advantec Corp., Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan Mobile, and so forth

Source: Taipei Computer Association