The Global Organization of Smart Cities (GO SMART), initiated by the Taipei City Government, was yesterday established in the capital and held its first meeting in the afternoon.
The launch event was held at the Smart City Summit and Expo at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center and attended by more than 100 city and industry representatives yesterday morning.
Su Liang (蘇亮), head of the GO SMART preparatory advisory committee, said the organization was prelaunched in March last year and has been founded to create a global platform for the exchange of smart city information, experiences, and associated problems and solutions.
So far, 130 members, including 92 cities, have joined the organization, he said.
“Taipei’s vision is to become a livable city, providing its citizens with lifestyles that are sustainable, high quality and continuously improving,” Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) said. “To achieve these ends, Taipei takes advantage of smart technology to meet its residents’ needs.”
The Taipei Smart City Office was established in March 2016, and it has facilitated more than 160 proof-of-concept projects through public-private partnerships, Teng said.
The Taipei Computer Association said that the nation has developed great skill sets in terms of flexibility, speed and cost efficiency in the information and communication technology industry, bringing great advantages for developing smart cities, and that it has the potential to become a key contributor to smart cites.
GO SMART also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Local Government Association of Queensland on cooperation.
Queensland Government Trade and Investment Commissioner for Taiwan Patrick Hafens said that every city in Queensland has membership, ensuring that they remain at the forefront of smart city solutions.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over