The Smart City Summit and Expo (SCSE) in Taipei is one of the largest conferences and expositions for smart city technology and trends in the world, taking place in a nation that produces 60% of the world’s semiconductors. From March 19 through 22, SCSE will host 150,000 visitors at convention centers in Taipei and Kaohsiung. Joining them will be an ICF delegation from cities, technology companies, universities and public-private accelerators organized in partnership with the ICF Institute in Taiwan and the national organization ICF Taiwan.

Led by ICF co-founder John Jung and executive director Matt Owen, the delegation will attend a full day of Smart City and Intelligent Community conference sessions developed by ICF, the ICF Institute in Taiwan and ICF Taiwan. Delegates will also attend the announcement of ICF’s Smart21 Communities of 2024, the first stage in the year-long process that ends in October with the naming of the Intelligent Community of the Year. Along the way, they will visit science parks, companies and universities in multiple Taiwanese cities, including Hsinchu, home to TSMC, the world’s leading operator of semiconductor fabs, and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), one of the world’s leading research centers. With semiconductors becoming of increasing strategic importance, delegates will be exploring opportunities for investment, partnership and joint research.

This will be the second year that ICF brings delegates to SCSE, and it will be the largest economic development mission that ICF has led so far. Delegates include Mayors, former Minsters of national and provincial government, company CEOs and Directors, economic development officials, researchers and nonprofit leaders.

The ICF Institute in Taiwan and ICF Taiwan are playing key roles in anchoring the Taiwan end of the mission and working with SCSE officials to create the program, connect the right people, and plan the logistics of a mission that will cover Taiwan from north to south. The ICF Institute in Taiwan is led by James Yeh, Assistant Professor at Chung Hua University in Hsinchu City. ICF Taiwan is managed by Maggie Chao (Deputy Division Director in the Communications Industry Development Project Office) and Tiffany Lin (Acting Deputy Manager in the ICT Deployment & Industry Service) at Taiwan’s ITRI.