Almost as soon as I arrived in Taipei to cover the world’s second largest smart-cities conference, I was treated to an unplanned demonstration of the power of these technologies to meet citizens’ needs.

On my first night, after ordering food to go near the Zhongxiao Fuxing Station, a friend and I returned via cab to my hotel to catch up and eat.

The eighth Smart City Summit & Expo (SCSE) successfully concluded on March 26 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 2.

Despite the strict entry control on the number of attendees, the four-day event drew over 80,000 visitors. The organiser, Taipei Computer Association (TCA), also invited delegations from more than 50 industrial and business associations to the event. Many local governmental agencies sent delegations to join the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. During this time when many international fairs are called off, SCSE brings a silver lining to the economy devastated by the pandemic. In addition, the livestreaming forum sessions have taken down cross-border walls to reach international professionals and city leaders. This kind of physical-virtual hybrid form appears to be a ‘new normal’ for the future of conferences.

To demonstrate its smart city solutions to other cities worldwide, the local government of Taoyuan, Taiwan signed contracts with Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), a network of more than 1,750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development, to become the chair for ICLEI's first international EcoLogistics community in 2019. Taoyuan also established the EcoLogistics Community Chair Office in March 2020.

The deputy secretary-general of the Taoyuan municipal government and CEO of the office, Jiunn-Ming Chiou, pointed out that the city has a comprehensive logistics industry surrounding the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the largest international airport in Taiwan.

Apple Inc is planning to expand its investment in Taiwan by building a new plant in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Hsinchu Science Park Bureau said yesterday.

The administration on Feb. 18 approved a plan by Apple’s Taiwan branch to set up a new plant in Longtan, Taoyuan, where the US firm has its existing operations, according to company registration data obtained by the Central News Agency.

Two software programs designed and written by Chung Yuan Christian University students to combat the spread of fake news have won InnoServe Awards.

Students in the department of information management developed the program as a senior project, professor Chin Chih-yu (金志聿) said.

One project titled “Keyboard Moderator” was a collaboration between students and renowned big data companies, and implemented on Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the largest electronic bulletin board system in Taiwan, Chin said.

Small, Medium & Large Communities from Four Nations Show Transformative Change

(New York, USA and Quebec City, Canada – 11 February, 2019) –  In an announcement this evening at an event at Laval University in Quebec City, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2019. The 17th annual Top7 list includes cities and counties from the United States, Canada, Australia and Taiwan. One of these seven finalists in the think tank’s annual awards program will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Summit in June in New York City on June 13th. (www.icfsummit.com)

In alphabetical order, the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2019 are:

• Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
• Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Hudson, Ohio, USA
• Sarnia-Lambton County, Ontario, Canada
• Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
• Taoyuan, Taiwan
• Westerville, Ohio, USA

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- As the trade war between the U.S. and China looks to continue to ramp up, Taiwanese tech companies are starting to pull out of China and shift production to the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Though Taoyuan had suffered from a flight of industries to China over the decades, like the rest of Taiwan, the trend appears to be reversing as Taiwanese companies scramble to try to dodge current and potential future tariffs on tech gadgets made in China. Many Taiwanese companies are choosing Taoyuan because of the proximity of Taiwan's largest international airport, the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, and existing facilities at their disposal.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has partnered with Singapore-based gridComm in a first-of-its-kind deployment of a streetlight management solution in Taiwan.

The solution aims to provide real-time monitoring of streetlight infrastructure, improving energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption from streetlights across Taiwan’s Taoyuan City.

"Street lighting continues to be an increasing expense on any major city’s maintenance and electricity budgets,” said Cheng Wen-Tsan, mayor of Taoyuan City.

Taiwan’s outstanding research and development (R&D) achievements and excellent products such as automation in the country’s agricultural sector were featured at the 2018 Taoyuan Agriculture Expo from April 4 to May 13.

The event at Xinwu district in Taoyuan city — incorporating the idea of “Smart Technology, Green Life” — featured 23 pavilions with six main themes: “Smart Technology”, “Unique Industry”, “Cultural and Creative Arts”, “Local Life”, “Multiple Cultures” and “Sustainable Environment”.

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) has named the world’s Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2018. This is the think tank’s 16th annual Top7 list of regions, cities or towns that have gone, in ICF’s words, “from smart city to intelligent community.”

This year’s list includes communities from four nations, with Taiwan contributing three, Canada two communities and Australia and Finland one each. The seven will travel to London in June where one will go on to be named the Intelligent Community of the Year, succeeding Melbourne, Australia, the reigning community.